Maryland is putting its Department of Housing and Community Development headquarters building in Crownsville up for sale as it moves forward in its quest to get a new home built in Prince George’s County. The department has added the sale notice to its request for proposals from developers to build a new headquarters.
Despite its isolated location off Interstate 97 and the surging trend toward developing near mass transportation, the 55-acre property could be highly coveted for its proximity to Fort Meade, which will be home to thousands more employees following the military’s Base Realignment and Closure order.
“It’s a rural location, yes, but it’s also a very private location,” said Steven Cornblatt, a principal at the commercial real estate firm Trout Daniel & Associates in Timonium. “And that might be advantageous for some of the BRAC-related government contractors who have to have secrecy or privacy.”
The Crownsville office, home to roughly 250 employees, has 83,000 usable square feet and was built and was financed by the state. According to Michael Gaines, the General Services department’s assistant secretary for real estate, the state hasn’t assigned a value to the property, which was built in 1991.
Gaines would not say whether the state would prefer bids that took on both building projects,
but did say officials wanted to “present it as an option to developers.” The state’s sale notice does not specify what kind of future use it envisions for the property.
Bids for both proposals are due Feb. 1.
The bid request for the new headquarters calls for a building with roughly 88,000 square feet of usable office space to be located in Prince George’s. However, the request doesn’t require the building be at a Metro stop even though it cites Gov. Martin O’Malley’s initiative to encourage transit-oriented development.
Instead the request encourages a location near any public transportation node such as MARC, Metro or bus transit.
“Frankly we could wind up with any location in the county, but the preference is for transit-oriented,” said Gaines.
Unlike the Crownsville headquarters, the state will not pay for building costs — or building improvements if an existing building is selected — other than communications installations.
Gaines said the general services department has not said when it will announce the selected developer but the department of health is expected to relocate in 2013.
