Greenspring Realty Partners Buys 5.5-Acre Former Power Plant in Port Covington

Greenspring Realty Partners, Inc. (GRP), a Baltimore-based commercial real estate and investment company, announced today it has acquired the former Gould Street Generating Station at 2105 Gould St. in Port Covington. GRP purchased the 5.5-acre waterfront site for $3,525,000 from the Exelon Corporation.

Gould Street Generating Station was retired on June 1st after being in operation since 1905. It was put up for sale in the spring with Cushman & Wakefield. The property includes a tall concrete power plant building with a smoke stock, a four-story brick building, a six-story brick building, tanks, smaller support buildings, parking lots, green space, and 400 ft. of waterfront with deep water berth and bulkhead.

David Baird, Michael Denise, and Matthew Myers of Cushman & Wakefield represented Exelon in this sales transaction.

Within the past 12 months, GRP has acquired 30 acres of maritime-related waterfront properties including a liquid transfer terminal and a 12-acre waterfront site on 4601 Newgate Ave. in Southeast Baltimore. The site is adjacent to Seagirt Marine Terminal which features 2,100 linear ft. of deep water berth space.

“Since our acquisition of the Newgate Ave. waterfront properties several months ago, we have been engaged with numerous end-users interested in the site, which remains among the only locations in Baltimore that offers deep water berth possibilities as well as surrounding land,” said Dan Flamholz, principal of GRP, in a press release. “Demand for waterfront sites far exceeds the supply across our region. This Gould Street acquisition will enable us to shift user interest to a comparable location in Baltimore City that is also suitable for the customized waterfront requirements we are fielding.”

Flamholz added that interest has surfaced from a wide variety of users involved in stockpiling operations with materials that need to be stored and shipped, logistics work, wastewater treatment, and related maritime uses.

Gould Street Generating Station has a heavy industrial I-2 zoning. This use allows for manufacturing, processing, wholesale distributing, and warehousing uses, and has drawn interest from a wide range of industry sectors, according to Flamholz.

“As part of the long-range development program planned for Port Covington, the area will be significantly modernized and expanded through the surrounding highway infrastructure which will be beneficial to our Gould St. site,” Flamholz said. “The barrier to entry for strategically-placed waterfront sites with deep water berth opportunities in Baltimore remains at a record high.”

“Waterfront property will always be scarce in our market and there is no replacement for this type of specialized location and, as a result, end-users will typically pay a premium to access it. The maritime and shipping industry is a significant economic driver and, given our transaction activity with and ownership of waterfront properties, our team is now positioned as a local expert and resource in this real estate product type,” Flamholz added.     

The Port of Baltimore, which is adjacent to the Gould Street Generating Station, continues to set records for cargo which has increased the need for logistics operations at nearby properties.

Gould Street Generating Station is adjacent to the former Tidewater Yacht Services. Tidewater’s property was purchased by the Port Covington Development Team, which broke ground this year on Chapter 1, the first major phase of a multi-decade, $5.5-billion, 235-acre development of Port Covington. A portion of Tidewater’s property will become part of a realigned Cromwell St. A complete redevelopment of Tidewater’s former property will be developed “later in Chapter 1,” according to Marc Weller of Mark Weller of Weller Development, which is leading development for The Port Covington Development team.

Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps. The borders of Exelon’s property marked in yellow. 

About the Author: Kevin Lynch

Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.