Reisterstown Office Park On Hold

An office and retail center planned for Reisterstown is on hold until economic conditions become more favorable, according to the developer.

"Job creation is what causes demand for office and flex space," said Jerry Wit, senior vice president of marketing for developer St. John Properties. "Until we see a sustained, month-over-month level of job creation for a number of months [the project will be on hold]."

Reisterstown Crossing, planned for a parcel on Westminster Road between Main Street and the entrance for Interstate 795, is going to be a 10-acre "campus-like environment," with 85,000 square feet of office and retail space, according to St. John Properties' website.

The developer operates the Reisterstown Business Center, which is across from Franklin Middle School.

"That has always done very well, so when this property became available, we negotiated and bought it," Wit said. "We own the property, we've got permits, there's a development plan, but there's no sense putting it up if it's going to sit empty."

Wit said buildings in the areas of BWI Airport and the Baltimore Inner Harbor are seeing vacancy rates of 25 percent.

"I can't think of too many spec buildings that are underway in Baltimore at the moment," he said.

Glenn Barnes, president of the Reisterstown Improvement Association, hopes the efforts his group is putting into revitalizing Main Street will help move projects like Reisterstown Crossing forward.

"I think some of the people who are looking at our area from the outside, if they see that things are starting to happen here, they may come back and say 'now's the time,'" he said.

Residents passing by the area recently may have noticed some construction equipment on the site. Wit could not confirm what the workers were doing, but a county official believes it was related to a state permit that is tied in with a Federal permit.

These permits expire if activity doesn't commence within a certain time frame. Ellen Kobler, deputy director of the Baltimore County Office of Communications, said the activity could have been related to a state/federal National Pollutant Discharge Elemination Permit. That permit is required for "discharges of more than 10,000 gallons of water a day within a one-month period, or any discharge of waste to surface or groundwater," according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture.