Biopharmaceutical company Kite Pharma said it is hiring 100 workers and opening a new 70K SF raw materials warehouse in Frederick.

Kite Pharma expects to start construction on the new warehouse this year. The facility will expand the California-based company’s cell therapy operations by bolstering its global manufacturing network.

Kite Pharma plans to build its new warehouse near its Frederick facility at the Urbana Corporate Center. The company anticipates employing more than 500 full-time workers in Maryland by the end of 2026.

The company operates additional manufacturing facilities in California and the Netherlands. Those facilities are part of what the Gilead Co. subsidiary calls the largest dedicated in-house cell therapy manufacturing network worldwide.

"Centralizing our raw materials storage and testing will enable us to bring control of materials in-house to increase the speed and efficiency of our global manufacturing operations so we can continue to grow to meet patient demand,“ said Chris McDonald, senior vice president and global head of technical operations at Kite Pharma.

LEASES

Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust reported its highest annual vacancy leasing level in 12 years, with most of that activity happening at properties near Fort Meade.

COPT leased 801K SF in 2022 with a weighted average lease term exceeding seven years, according to the firm. COPT reported 54% of that leasing activity was in the Baltimore-Washington corridor near Fort Meade. The company also said it leased 192K SF around what it describes as being around “various defense locations” in Maryland and Virginia.

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Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty has closed its 6,600 SF brokerage offices at Southside Marketplace, according to SouthBmore.com. A company spokesperson said the firm shuttered its offices after its rent increased but intends to open another office in the area.

SALES

Besche Realty Inc. sold the strip mall mall at 1901-1907 East Joppa Road in Parkville to a private investment group for $4.5M, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. Gil Neuman of Neuman Commercial Group arranged the sale of the 21K SF property. Tenants include Joppa Pharmacy, AR Bridal and Sofas ETC.

DEVELOPMENT 

The Maryland Stadium Authority canceled a feasibility study examining the potential of opening a 10,000-seat soccer stadium at Baltimore Peninsula, formerly Port Covington, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. The authority had agreed to fund $62K for the study, but London-based Right to Dream informed the agency it was no longer interested in pursuing the project.

PERSONNEL

Commercial real estate advocacy organization NAIOP Maryland elected MRP Industrial Senior Vice President of Development Kate Nolan Bryden to its board of directors.

Nolan Bryden manages the development and ground-up construction operations in Maryland for Baltimore-based MRP Industrial, an affiliate of MRP Realty. Since 2013, the company has developed more than 18M SF of warehouse, industrial and logistics space in the mid-Atlantic region.

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Baltimore-based M&T Realty Capital Corp. said it hired Sandy DeFelice as FHA platform manager and Leslie Duchene as managing director and FHA chief underwriter.

Duchene previously worked at CBRE for 14 years as the managing director and FHA program manager for that firm’s FHA lending platform. During her 20 years with M&T RCC, DeFelice has financed more than $3B in multifamily affordable and conventional loans.

THIS AND THAT

The Parks and People Foundation continues its search for a consultant to steer efforts to create a memorial to the Negro League’s Baltimore Black Sox as part of the planned Middle Branch redevelopment in south Baltimore.

According to its website, the organization recently revised the request for proposals it originally released in August. The changes in the document better reflect “the primary goal of honoring the rich African American history found in and around Westport" that the original RFP failed to emphasize.