Former Columbia Flier Building Still For Sale, Howard Co. Leaders Hopeful For Its Future

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — For 33 years, the Flier Building served as the home of the Columbia Flier, Howard County's local newspaper. Built in 1978, the building was bought in 2014 by the Howard County government and now leaders are looking for its new purpose.

An updated RFP (request for proposal) has been released for the purchase of the former building and property located at 10750 Little Patuxent Parkway. The RFP can be found here.

“The Columbia Flier Building was an innovative part of Howard County’s history and we are focused on making it a critical part of our next Howard County chapter,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said. “As we prepared for this RFP, we have engaged, collaborated and listened to residents and community stakeholders about their concerns and desires for future use of this site. We will continue working with the community throughout this process to ensure this site becomes a vibrant epicenter in our county once again.”

Howard County’s goals with this RFP, according to Ball, are to:

• Facilitate the redevelopment and/or use of the building and property through new ownership;
• Generate revenue for the county through the sale of the property and collection of future real property taxes on the property; and
• Conduct a competitive solicitation process to sell the property to an entity which will consider community input and address market demand, which does not include housing

The Flier Building is located less than a half of a mile from Downtown Columbia in the Village of Wilde Lake. The building offers more than 35,000 square feet and sits on approximately 2 acres that fronts Little Patuxent Parkway.

In a survey open to the public, community members indicated what they'd like to see the building used for including:

• Providing benefits to the community such as retail, food service, educational use and office use, among other uses.
• Valuing the history of the building and its original use and communicated a desire to see the history memorialized in the repurposing of the property.
• Prioritizing sustainability such as the development of a LEED certified building as well as the preservation of the healthy, mature trees on site and use of solar panels.