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One of Montgomery County's tallest commercial properties with some of the nation's best-known tenants is up for sale in Wheaton.
The asking price is $8.2 million for less than one-third of an acre, but the new owner can count on steady rents from the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel. Each one has an antenna attached to the Carver Telecommunications Tower rising more than 340 feet above University Boulevard half a block east of Viers Mill Road.
The edifice was built in 1947 as a radio broadcast tower but now most of its revenue comes from cell phone and other telecommunications companies. The tower rises more than 800 feet above sea level and can be seen from anywhere in the Wheaton area.
"It's a special place," said listing agent Al Charbonneau, with Long & Foster. "It will be for a company that needs a tower and not just a real estate investment."
The property comes with a group of small transmitter storage buildings and a 1,630-square-foot flex building set in a row of retail and restaurant spaces at 2647 University Blvd. West. It might be possible to expand by adding a couple of floors, Charbonneau said.
The tower has been owned since the 1970s by the family of the late Bert Carver, who started a two-way radio transmission company after retiring as a physicist at Johns Hopkins University. The tower is one of seven radio signal switch stations in Maryland and its coverage includes the entire metropolitan Washington area.
Carver's High Tower Co. has remained on the cutting edge and customers include XM Satellite Radio. There is room for further expansion to provide tower space for WiMAX — worldwide inter-operability for microwave access — wireless broadband service providers.
Pizza maker expansion to bring 40 new jobs
Joe Corbi's Wholesale Pizza Inc. bought a 40,000-square-foot production building in Baltimore for $2 million with the help of a financing credit from the city, according to its development agency.
The Baltimore Development Corp. provided a $300,000 loan to assist with the purchase of a building on 4.3 acres at 2800 Wegworth Lane just a few blocks from the company's headquarters. The total cost of the expansion is $2.6 million.
Corbi‘s will relocate a portion of its cookie dough manufacturing and distribution facility from Iowa to Baltimore, bringing 40 new jobs to the city. The company, based in southwest Baltimore, was founded in 1983 by Joseph V. Corbi, and his sister Joan Corbi Bell to sell pizza kits to nonprofits for fundraising purposes.
Joe Corbi's has 217 employees, one-third of whom live in Baltimore, according to agency information.
Rouse parent gets reprieve on debt
Creditors have agreed to waive default action on $2.58 billion owed by General Growth Properties, parent of Rouse Co. of Columbia, thus avoiding forced bankruptcy.
The Chicago shopping center giant announced it received consents from lenders to waive events of default on its 2006 Senior Credit Agreement until Dec. 31. At the same time, the company extended the deadline for its solicitation to creditors to allow it to skip payments through 2009 on debt related to its 2004 Rouse acquisition.
Rouse is seeking consents from the holders of $2.25 billion worth of unsecured notes, and has obtained agreement from lenders representing about 41 percent of that debt.
But Standard & Poor's lowered its grade on the company, citing its failure to secure new financing for $900 million in secured mortgage loans on two Las Vegas properties, the Fashion Show Mall and the Shoppes at the Palazzo. The company also defaulted on $395 million in unsecured bonds that came due recently.
Equinox Fitness Clubs plans four-story gym at Bethesda Row
Equinox Fitness Clubs will open a four-story gym at Bethesda Row, its developer, Federal Realty Investment Trust, announced.
The 31,000-square-foot space, formerly occupied by a Washington Sports Club gym, Ritz Camera and other shops, will include a full service spa, pool, café-juice bar and five group exercise studios. Construction is under way and should be completed late next year.
Office buildings sell in Windsor Mill
SK Properties bought a pair of small office buildings in the Rutherford Business Center in Windsor Mill northwest of Baltimore for $4.5 million, according to AGM Commercial Real Estate Advisors, which represented both sides in the deal.
Miller Investments sold the two buildings with a combined 35,553 square feet of space at 7222 Ambassador Road and 7138 Windsor Blvd.
Commercial real estate news items may be mailed to: Steve Monroe, The Business Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877; e-mailed to smonroe@gazette.net; or faxed to 301-670-7183.
