Before the month ends, contracting company Virginia Beach-based Armada Hoffler Properties should be breaking ground on its first-ever development project in Baltimore with a student housing and retail project anchored by a CVS, says president of development Tony Nero. The firm has more than $1B in projects in the city over the past 20 years and now has the most cranes operating in Downtown, we learned at Bisnow's 5th annual Baltimore State of the Market event last week.

The estimated $65M project is being built on a 1.1-acre vacant lot one block from Johns Hopkins University by Armada Hoffler Properties and the Beatty Development Group. The 12-story building will feature 157 student apartments and almost 32k SF of commercial space at the southwest corner of St. Paul and East 33rd streets, according to the Baltimore Sun. The building will wrap around a parking structure with 162 spaces for apartment tenants and the public. Capstone Management will manage the project, which should open for residents in fall 2016. [Baltimore Sun]