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National developer moves to Bowie

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A major residential developer has signed a lease with St. John Properties to take up space in the new Melford Plaza office building at the former Maryland Science and Technology Center.

The Lennar Corp., a Miami-based national house-building firm, will relocate from its Silver Spring and Crofton locations to a 39,000-square foot office at the science park, comprising over 25 percent of the four-story building. The new office will become its regional headquarters.

‘‘We considered many different buildings throughout the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. corridor, but Melford Plaza combined the most advantages for our company, including the opportunity to be contained on a single-floor,” stated Bruce Harvey, Division President for Lennar Homes, in a written statement. ‘‘Given the geographic alignment of our residential communities, this location at the virtual mid-point of the corridor positions us within easy reach of each of our housing developments.”

The move will bring 110 employees from Montgomery County into Prince George’s. The firm will take up the entire fourth floor of the building. Alan Coppola, an associate with a real estate firm and a member of the city’s Economic Development Committee, helped broker the deal.

The building is already 25 percent leased, and officials with St. John Properties have said once the building is 50 percent leased, they will move forward building a similar if not larger office building next to the current one.