Rendering from St. John Properties St. John Properties of Baltimore has broken ground on a 42,620-square-foot building in the Maple Lawn Corporate Center in Fulton, its final flex property in the Howard County office park. Maple Lawn is a 600-acre mixed-use business community with 388,000 square feet of existing office space.

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This story was corrected on Oct. 23, 2012. An explanation follows the story.

CBRE has been selected to lease and manage 6560 Rock Spring Drive in Bethesda, a 180,000-square-foot building that has sat empty since it was vacated by a Lockheed Martin unit in early 2009.

“This is a great building in a terrific location within easy reach of the nation’s capital and the Bethesda central business district,” Jim Cahilll, senior vice president at CBRE, said in a news release. “Its position near Maryland’s I-270 tech corridor makes it an attractive opportunity for tenants browsing a popular market region where little new development is taking place.”

CBRE is pitching the building as “ideal for a corporate headquarters user as well as a multi-tenant user on either a full or partial floor.” The Rock Spring II building, completed in 1993, offers seven floors overlooking 6 acres near the Westfield Montgomery mall and next to the headquarters of Marriott International.

But the relocation by the Lockheed Martin Center for Leadership Excellence to Rockville and the long vacancy prompted the building’s lender to file for foreclosure. The property was recently released from receivership, according to CBRE.

The owner, Investors Warranty of America — an affiliate of Aegon USA Realty Advisors — plans building improvements, including a full lobby renovation and upgrades to food service, dining and meeting spaces.

The effort to reposition comes at a tough time for the Rock Spring office park, which has suffered a series of large private and federal consolidation moves.

A July report by Transwestern showed that nearby 6710 Rockledge Drive was 76 percent vacant and 6700 Rockledge Drive was 63 percent vacant. Meanwhile, neighboring 6550 Rock Spring Drive was 27 percent vacant and 6901 Rockledge Drive was 25 percent vacant.

But nearby 10401 Fernwood Road is now fully leased after the 99,583-square-foot renewal by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which included 55,000 square feet of expansion space. The property was about 66 percent leased when it traded hands in 2006.

Aerospace Building in Lanham auctioned for $8.9M

The Bernstein Cos. of Washington, D.C., completed the sale of its 146,000-square-foot Aerospace Building in Lanham for $8.9 million, according to Tranzon Fox, which conducted an auction in August.

Bernstein paid $16.5 million for the nine-story property in 2003, according to state records. The building, less than a mile from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at 10210 Greenbelt Road, was competed in 1971.

The class B property was 75 percent leased at the time of the sale to 104 Investment, according to Tranzon. NASA occupies 18 percent of the building and more than half of the remaining space is leased to various space industry contractors, according to the Bernstein website.

The deal included the 2-acre ground lease of the NASA Federal Credit Union.

Laurel industrial building sells for $7 million

Terreno Realty announced that it bought an 85,000-square-foot industrial building in Laurel for $7 million.

The San Francisco company acquired 14851 Sweitzer Lane in the Maryland I-95 Business Park, adjacent to I-95 between Md. 198 and 200.

The property, completed in 1995, is fully leased to one tenant, according to Terreno. But a CBRE leasing brochure shows that it is available for sublease through 2015.

The building includes 59,700 square feet of warehouse space and 25,000 square feet of office space.

Total acquisition cost included leasing expsenses necessary to achieve stabilization, as well as the purchase price, the effects of marking assumed debt to market, buyer’s due diligence and closing costs and estimated near-term capital expenditures.

Terreno invests in, owns and operates industrial real estate in the Washington-Baltimore market, as well as the northern New Jersey-New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle regions.

Beltsville apartment complex put on market

Transwestern announced that its Mid-Atlantic Multifamily Group of Bethesda has been named exclusive agent for the sale of Lighthouse at Twin Lakes, a 699-unit garden and midrise apartment complex near I-95 in Beltsville.

The property is immediately northwest of the I-95 cloverleaf at Md. 212.

The complex is offered as a turnaround buy, suitable for “superior upside potential through moderate interior unit improvements.”

About $4 million worth of capital improvements has been made since 2006, as well as the implementation of a utility billing program, which directly meters natural gas and a water-sewer pass-through. Additional opportunity exists to add 16 units through the conversion of underutilized space.

“Lighthouse at Twin Lakes offers a superior value-add opportunity that awards an investor with improved rent structures by a modest interior unit renovation,” Robin Williams, co-managing director of Transwestern’s Mid-Atlantic Multifamily Group, said in a news release.

The complex has 22 different floor plans, which average 808 square feet and comprise 143 studios, 286 one-bedrooms, 260 two-bedrooms and 10 three-bedrooms, all within 16 garden-style buildings and one midrise building. Amenities include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, clubhouse, fitness center, business center and lake views.

The agents tout the property as a quick commute to major employers, including the Food and Drug Administration headquarters at White Oak; the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville; the University of Maryland, College Park; and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Facility.

Walmart store opens in Randallstown

Brixmor Property Group of New York announced the opening of a Walmart Supercenter at Liberty Plaza, a mile north of the Baltimore Beltway in Randallstown.

The 160,908-square-foot store opens following Marshalls discount department store’s commitment to stay at Liberty Plaza under a long-term lease extension as a result of the redevelopment.

“The Randallstown Walmart is a signal that national retailers continue to recognize the opportunities of the Liberty Road consumer market,” Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz (D) said in a news release.

Brixmor invested more than $16 million in developing the Walmart building and upgrading the entire physical plant of the property. The store replaces a cluster of long-vacant stores and will bring about 350 jobs, along with a full grocery section, a drive-through pharmacy, a vision center and a hair salon, according to a Brixmor statement.

Brixmor has 27 Wal-Mart-branded stores encompassing more than 3.3 million square feet throughout its nationwide portfolio of shopping centers.

Commercial real estate news items may be mailed to Robert Rand, The Business Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, Md. 20877; emailed to rrand@gazette.net; or faxed to 301-670-7183.

Explanation: The original version, based on incorrect information from a Transwestern report, misstated vacancy rates in the Rock Spring office area.