New Ownership at City Garage in Port Covington to Focus Leasing on Life Sciences
Commercial real estate investment firm South Duvall has bought into the City Garage building at 101 W. Dickman St. in Port Covington. South Duvall is now the managing partner of the building while Sagamore Ventures, which renovated the former 141,036 sq. ft. warehouse into an office building in 2016, also remains on as a partner.
The deal was brokered by Scheer Partners.
Sagamore Ventures is owned by Kevin Plank, who is a partner in the Port Covington Development. He is also the founder and Chairman of Under Armour, which is a current tenant of City Garage.
Under Armour’s UA LightHouse is located in a 70,000 sq. ft. space at City Garage. This manufacturing and design innovation facility for Under Armour will relocate next year to Building 37 at the company’s Port Covington campus across S. Hanover St.
The rest of City Garage is fully leased, according to South Duvall Director of Acquisitions Matthew Brown. Tenants include Betamore, Weller Development, LINQ, Engineered Medical Systems, and Baltivirtual.
South Duvall will convert the soon-to-be-vacant UA LightHouse footprint into space for companies specializing in life sciences to perform research and development. Brown said they would be open to a company leasing all 70,000 sq. ft. or spaces as small as 10,000 sq. ft.
South Duvall is working with Scheer Partners to lease this space.
Brown said preparing this space for life science companies will require installing backup generators and preparing for “unique and complicated” buildups.
He said the building is ideal for life sciences tenants as its one-story layout with 20 ft. ceilings allows mechanical changes to be made more easily than at a multi-story building. He also said the two loading docks are beneficial for life science companies.
Tenants also have access to 270 of the parking spaces around City Garage. Some parking spaces will remain designated for adjacent West Covington Park, which his owned by the Port Covington Development Team.
“This is a unique property and the building has great bones,” said Brown. “No other life science building has water views and access to beach volleyball.”
City Garage will be rebranded as City Garage Science and Technology Center.
“Baltimore is home to many world-class institutions, but there’s been a true need for space built for research and development,” said Brown in a press release. “City Garage and Port Covington will be the perfect place for the innovative life science community to grow in Baltimore.”
Brown told SouthBMore.com that while Baltimore has great institutions and biotech and medical device facilities, those spaces are 100 percent leased.
“Since its opening, City Garage has been a place for innovative companies to build, collaborate, and grow. We believe this new investment continues on that theme and further demonstrates that life science innovation belongs in Port Covington,” said Jeff Nattans, executive vice president of Sagamore Ventures, in a press release. “With the life science expertise that South Duvall brings to the table, our partnership will usher in a new era for City Garage.”
In the neighboring Port Covington development, Alexandria Real Estate Equities is planning a six-story, 169,812 sq. ft. lab and office building for its life science company. Detailed plans or timeline for starting construction has not yet been released however.
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.
