Fourth UMBC tech park building announced

With two buildings up at bwtech@UMBC, two more are on the way. No tenants are signed for the fourth building, but interest is said to be strong. Photo by Max Franz

Add another 110,000 square feet of space to the Baltimore area's technology research and development assets.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County will build a fourth building at bwtech@UMBC, its technology park. Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corp., said the new space is needed because the two constructed buildings are already full.

The tech park is designed to help companies grow as they work with university researchers.

“We do have a number of companies that are very eager to move in,” Hemmerly said. She would not get into specifics, but did say she expected the leases to be signed quickly.

Hemmerly said construction should begin by the end of the year and finish in early 2008. Plans for the research park call for 330,000 square feet spread over five buildings on 41 acres.

Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust will develop the $22 million building. The new building will complement another planned COPT structure — a 23,500-square-foot space that will serve as headquarters of the U.S. Geological Survey Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center. UMBC announced that building in March.

The planned fourth building is the most recent for research and development in the region. Last week The Johns Hopkins University broke ground on an $800 million Science and Technology Park in East Baltimore. The first piece is a 282,000-square-foot facility that should be complete in the spring of 2008, said Linda Robertson, vice president for Government, Community and Public Affairs for Hopkins.

Despite the Hopkins complex, as well as the 130-acre M Square research park at the University of Maryland, College Park and other research facilities in the state, Hemmerly said she is not concerned that installations will end up competing against each other for companies and technology.

Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said he believes the research facilities would be able to play complementary roles in Maryland's push toward “technology dominance.” For instance, Hopkins would likely draw companies with a health care slant, while UMBC would focus more on information technology. The success of each will add up for overall prosperity.

“The more activity you have in an area, the more companies are going to want to be in the area,” Melissaratos said.

Robertson agreed that the parks would be “absolutely complementary” rather than competing against each other. She said each research park could carve out its own specialty without hurting the others.

“We view this as something that is a benefit for everyone as we all continue to grow and advance Maryland,” Robertson said.