In the News...MedStar moving headquarters to new Crescent development in downtown Columbia

By: Sarah Gantz

MedStar Health has been named as the first tenant of Howard Hughes Corp.’s mixed-use Crescent project currently under development in Columbia.

MedStar will move from its current headquarters in downtown Columbia to take 97,000 square feet of space in the first building to go up as part of Howard Hughes' Crescent development, also in downtown Columbia. MedStar will be the lead tenant of the 200,000-square-foot building and expects to move in early 2017.

Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman announced the deal during his State of the County address Thursday.

MedStar currently has 70,000-square-feet at nearby 5565 Sterrett Place in Columbia and was looking for a larger headquarters space that would be able to accommodate the 200 employees who work there and serve as the health system's hub, a MedStar spokeswoman said. The size of the space means MedStar will save money by being able to hold meetings and events in-house, rather than renting space elsewhere.

Hospital executives also wanted their new headquarters to be centrally located to other MedStar entities, easily accessible to major highways and close to ample parking. Hospital executives liked Howard Hughes' sustainable building design and energy conservation plans.

Howard County began working with MedStar about two years ago to find another option for its headquarters, said Howard County Economic Development Authority CEO Lawrence Twele. The health care company also looked at other options in the region, he said.
  
“That really is the story — this is the largest health care provider in the region and they’ve chosen Columbia as their corporate headquarters,” Twele said. “As they’ve grown and expanded, they could have gone other places but they chose to stay here.”

The Crescent is a crescent-shaped property surrounding the Merriweather Post Pavilion that developer Howard Hughes plans to turn into a mix of office, residential and retail properties.

The office building, located at the corner of Little Patuxent and Broken Land parkways, is currently under construction and will be the first in the Crescent area. Project plans also call for 2,300 residential units, a hotel and more parking.

In the Baltimore area, MedStar hospitals include MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and MedStar Union Memorial Hospital.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/real-estate/2016/02/medstar-moving-headquarters-to-new-crescent.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2016-02-18&u=6651CLnqNZCLqxIc%2BxPm0w03ed73ac&t=1455826372