In the News...Stadium Square developer: 'We have tons of interest' in office building

By: Joanna Sullivan

The Stadium Square project is expected to get the OK for a $500,000 grant on Wednesday from the state for being a 'transit-oriented' development.

Developer Arsh Mirmiran says the 72,000-square-foot office building under construction at Stadium Square in South Baltimore is attracting potential leases from tenants who could fill a 150,000-square-foot structure.

"We have a ton of interest," said Arsh Mirmiran, of Caves Valley Partners. "If we get half of those, we're fully leased. If we get a third of them, we're well on our way."

The United Way of Central Maryland pulled away from a plan to acquire the building for its new headquarters in July. Instead, the nonprofit is eyeing space for its 85 employees in the Montgomery Park development in Southwest Baltimore.

The Stadium Square building at 145 W. Ostend St. is expected to be done by April 1. On Wednesday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined Caves Valley in celebrating its "topping off" — the placement of the final level of the six-story office building.

The project is expected to get the OK for a state grant of $500,000 from the Board of Public Works on Wednesday. The grant is for transit-oriented developments. Stadium Square is near both a MARC station and light rail station.

The $19.5 million building is part of three office buildings planned for the $275 million Stadium Square project near the city's Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood. An apartment complex, Hanover Cross Street, which is being developed by the Texas-based Hanover Co., is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, Mirmiran said. A community center for the area is expected to be finished next month.

Meanwhile, Mirmiran said he's on the hunt for a tenant for the 32,000-square-foot Vac Pac building at 150 W. Ostend St.. The building was supposed to be demolished but Mirmiran says Caves Valley decided to redevelop it instead.

"It's a really, really cool building," he said. "The more we looked at it, the more we thought it had great potential."

Vac Pac, a packaging company, moved its operations to Baltimore County because it ran out of space.

If Caves Valley finds a tenant that is willing to take the entire building, Mirmiran said work will begin on the project. He's hopeful that a tenant that might not fit into the original building will opt for the Vac Pac building instead.

The third office building — the largest at 200,000 square feet — won't be built without a commitment from tenants.

"That we’ll want to get a decent chunk of pre-leasing before we’ll start," Mirmiran said.

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