BWTECH@UMBC CONSTRUCTION REPORT
September 2007
bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park includes a 41-acre research park at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The research park has a total development capacity of 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. The park will ultimately comprise five new state-of-the-art buildings occupied by research and technology firms. The firms have access to university expertise, students, technology, programs and facilities. Construction of the university's research and technology park is on schedule.
bwtech@UMBC was Maryland 's first university research park. It is the only research and technology park in Baltimore County. The Park's first building, 5521 Research Park Drive, completed in 2001, is occupied by RWD Technologies. A second building, 5523 Research Park Drive, completed in 2004, is fully leased. Both buildings are owned by Merritt Properties, LLC.
The real estate development firm Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) is managing construction of both the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) building and a 110,000 square-foot, four-story, multi-tenant building, the park's fourth of five planned buildings.
The Erickson facility will be the fifth research park building.
5522 Research Park Drive
Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) completed the 23,500 SF U.S. Geological Survey MD-DE-DC Water Science Center (USGS) in July of this year. USGS employs over 60 scientists and support staff who are expected to strengthen collaborative work with UMBC and U.S. Forest Service scientists who monitor the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and the health of the region's water supply, rivers and streams. USGS looks forward to additional collaborations with UMBC researchers and plans to hire several student interns this fall. Students who are intersted in pursuing internships with USGS should send an email to rjshedlo@usgs.gov. USGS moved into their space over the August 10, 2007 weekend and will be hosting an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony on October 24, 2007. UMBC welcomes USGS to our campus and community!
5520 Research Park Drive
COPT is well underway with the development of 5520 Research Park Drive, a four-story 110,000 SF multi-tenant building located across from the RWD building. Concrete foundations are in and steel is currently being erected. The building will be completed by July 2008 and is being marketed to prospective tenants. Ideal tenants for the building include research entities and technology companies which have the potential to collaborate with UMBC. Any ideas for prospective tenants who would be good campus partners should be shared with Ellen Hemmerly, executive director, UMBC Research Park Corporation (hemmerly@umbc.edu). Fees for successful referrals will be available.
Click Here for more information on the new building.
5525 Research Park Drive
The fifth and last building at the research park is being developed by Erickson Retirement Communities to house Retirement Living Television (RLTV) as well as Erickson's Information Technology Group and Foundation. RLTV is the first TV network targeting people aged 55 and over. RLTV will house its corporate headquarters and three production studios in the new facility. Erickson Retirement Comunities looks forward to broadening its already extensive partnership with UMBC. Construction activity begun on the site several weeks ago. The approximately 100,000 SF building is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.