From Lawrence Howard & Associates, Inc.: A joint venture partnership between Feldman Bergin Properties and Fortified Property Group has acquired the Columbia Business Center, a nine-building mixed-use business community comprising 160,255 square feet of commercial office, laboratory, research and development, and retail space in the Columbia section of Howard County. The asset, which was cumulatively 84% leased at the time of the sale, was purchased from an institutional investor for $25.6 million with Don Schline of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services representing the seller. With this latest purchase, the partnership has now acquired 13 buildings totaling more than 326,000 square feet of space in Howard County since fall 2017.

"The addition of Columbia Business Center establishes our partnership with a critical mass of well-situated properties in the Howard County region, which is a significant factor in our ability to provide cost-efficient asset management services to our tenants as well as to quickly respond to corporate expansion or relocation requests," stated Bob Bergin, Co-Founder and Principal of Feldman Bergin Properties. "Our team immediately recognized the institutional quality of this portfolio, featuring an infill location on Dobbin Road that we consider irreplaceable in the marketplace. We were also able to execute this transaction significantly below replacement cost." The single-story portfolio consists of 6410, 6420, 6430, 6440, 6450, 6460, 6470, 6480 and 6490 Dobbin Road. The multi-tenanted buildings are currently occupied by companies including Chiron Technology Services, DSM Nutritional Products, the Motor Vehicle Administration, Sherwin-Williams and Sushi King.

Columbia Business Center is located adjacent to the intersection of MD Route 175 and Snowden River Parkway and is positioned less than two miles from MD Route 100 and Interstate 95. Columbia Town Center is approximately four miles from the site and is BWI Airport is 15 miles away. Feldman Bergin Properties and Fortified Property Group intend to immediately execute a property improvement strategy focusing on exterior cosmetic improvements, as well as updating and modernizing other amenities for the business park.

"We believe Columbia Business Center is the most amenity-rich, single-story office product available in the Columbia area and we intend to capitalize on the extremely tight Howard County single-story office market, which current stands at 7.8% vacancy, including sublet space," explained Michael Rabin, a Partner with Fortified Property Group. NAI KLNB has been selected to handle marketing and leasing responsibilities for the remaining available space with David Fritz, Spence Daw and Ryan Minnehan working on the assignment. MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services will provide asset management services.

"Being conveniently located in the Dobbin Road corridor and having a walkable retail center on-site, Columbia Business Center provides a more extensive number of amenities than the average single-story office project in this and surrounding submarkets," stated Spence Daw of NAI KLNB.

"Columbia Business Center provides the new ownership group with a stabilized asset which is risk averse due to long term leases, retail and office tenancy, and the ability to lease-up recently-vacated office space to drive yield, in a Columbia submarket with favorable vacancy rates," stated Don Schline of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services.

Feldman Bergin Properties is a privately-held real estate development and investment firm based in Washington, D.C. with a combined thirty years of experience among its principals. Established in 2017, the investment company has purchased 14 commercial buildings between Baltimore and Washington, DC. The firm focuses on all asset classes of commercial properties between Richmond and Baltimore. For additional information, visit here. Founded in 2014, the principals of Fortified Property Group have ownership stakes in more than 20 commercial office buildings and retail centers, with values in the hundreds of millions. The boutique real estate investment and advisory firm focuses on the acquisition and operation of commercial properties throughout the country, with an emphasis on the greater Washington, D.C. market. For additional information, visit here.