Friday, Sept. 28, 2007
Financially ailing Radio One, the nation’s seventh largest radio broadcasting company, has reached a deal to move its headquarters from Lanham back to Washington, D.C., after three years of negotiations with city officials.
Details of a $22 million taxpayer subsidy could be finalized as soon as next week to woo the firm, which is the largest broadcaster targeting black audiences. The Radio One move to a $100 million mixed-use project planned atop the Shaw-Howard University Metro station needs approval from the City Council.
‘‘We’re still trying to come up with the financial incentive gap,” Neil O. Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, told the Committee on Economic Development on Monday. ‘‘Our aim is to get a full package to the council early in October.”
TV One, a Radio One subsidiary, will make the move to the District as well, leaving its current headquarters in Silver Spring. The 300,000-square-foot project, which Radio One will anchor, should be ready for occupancy in 2009, according to the development team of Ellis Development Group and the Jarvis Co., both based in the District, and Four Points LLC of McLean, Va., part of the West Group, the original developer of Tysons Corner, Va.
The project will include 100,000 square feet of office space, 22,000 square feet of retail space, a 330-space underground garage, and about 200 condominiums.
Radio One officials did not return calls for comment.
The company has suffered financial setbacks this year, with its stock closing at $3.50 on Wednesday, less than half its 12-month high. Radio One recently restated its earnings, showing a $10.1 million drop in net income over the seven years spanning 1999 to 2005, largely due to inaccurate accounting related to stock option grants.
But the $22 million price tag to woo Radio One reflects the explosive growth of the company since it agreed to move half of its 250 employees to Lanham in 1997, thanks, in part, to a $500,000 Maryland Sunny Day fund loan that converted to a grant as the company added jobs. At the time, Radio One was a family-owned business that controlled nine stations, including flagship WOL AM 1450 and WKYS on the FM dial. Although the company has suffered some recent financial setbacks, it went public in 1999 and now owns or operates 55 outlets, down from 69 last year.
Albert said the city could have a deal ready by next week that would close a $6.5 million gap on the public financing package — including money from the city’s Great Streets program and Housing Production Trust Fund; a tax abatement; and a project to revive the neighboring Howard Theatre — which will share development costs for a garage with the new Broadcast Center One.
The city originally offered a $10 million public finance package to the Broadcast Center One developers. The deal has been in the works since 2004 under talks with the National Capital Revitalization Corp. The now-defunct city agency never settled on financial terms with the development team backing Radio One’s move and negotiations were taken up by Albert, whose office took over all city development agencies this year when Mayor Adrian Fenty completed a government overhaul.
Revamped Bethesda Theatrescheduled to open next week
The Bethesda Theatre opens its doors to the public next week after an $11.5 million renovation that transformed the cinema into a live stage venue.
The Art Deco property first saw life in 1938 as the Boro Theatre, a movie house. Recent incarnations included the Bethesda Cinema and Draft House and the Bethesda Theatre Café. The Bozzuto Group, along with Smith Payes LLC and Prudential, donated the theater to the Bethesda Cultural Alliance in 2006, after building the Whitney Apartments, directly behind the theater.
The nonprofit Beheads Cultural Alliance and Nederlander Worldwide of New York are now staging live theater, beginning with the Off-Broadway hit ‘‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” premiering Thursday.
Fells Point buldingsold for $9.25M
CB Richard Ellis in Baltimore arranged the sale of a historic 45,000-square-foot mixed-used building in Fells Point for $9.25 million.
The seller was Union Box Co. of Baltimore and the purchaser was the Brick Cos. of Edgewater.
The 1800s property, at 1820 Lancaster St., was the former headquarters for Union Box. It underwent an extensive renovation several years ago, transforming it from a crumbling, boarded-up brick derelict into a modern office complex.
‘‘This transaction demonstrates the success of adaptive reuse,” said CBRE’s Jonathan Beard, who represented the seller. ‘‘A major focus of the Brick Companies is environmental and social responsibility in the real estate industry. The way that this building had been carefully restored, including the salvage of many aspects of the original structure, fit right into the buyer’s focus.”
The building is fully leased with a mix of retail, office, the U.S. Postal Service and Johns Hopkins University.
In other CB Richard Ellis news, carpet manufacturer Shaw Industries Inc. has signed a five-year lease for 106,758 square feet of warehouse and distribution space at Preston Gateway Corporate Park in Hanover, according to CB Richard Ellis, which represented the Cartersville, Ga., company.
The 1.1 million-square-foot industrial complex is about halfway between Washington and Baltimore, and Preston Partners of Luthersville completed a fourth building this year with 303,498 square feet of space.
Shaw is moving into a building completed last year at 1405 Magellan Road, where Preston added 176,053 square feet of space.
The deal was handled in-house by Preston. CBRE’s Baltimore and Atlanta offices represented Shaw Industries.
Commercial real estatenews items may be mailed to: Steve Monroe, The Business Gazette, 1200 Quince Orchard Blvd., Gaithersburg, MD 20878; e-mailed to smonroe@ gazette.net; or faxed to301-670-7183.
