St. John Properties has been awarded one of the highest honors in commercial real estate.

Industry organization NAIOP has named the Baltimore-based company its Developer of the Year, recognition that will be officially given at its annual CRE Converge conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 17.

A team of development professionals and executives decided the winner based on a varied set of criteria: outstanding quality of projects and services; active support of the industry through NAIOP; financial consistency and stability; ability to adapt to market conditions; and support of the local community.

Founded by Edward St. John (who remains chairman) in 1971, SJP was noted by NAIOP for its sustainability initiative, which it initiated in 2009. Since then, it has developed 43 LEED-certified buildings, which makes up nearly all of its new construction in that time. It has also been recognized for the past four years as one of the top 10 largest corporate philanthropists in the Baltimore area by the Baltimore Business Journal.

One of SJP's largest developments under construction is Greenleigh at Crossroads, a 1,000-acre, $750M mixed-use project in White Marsh, where it is in the process of adding a 100K SF speculative office building and a SpringHill Suites hotel. SJP has also had success in office leasing, recently landing Verizon at its Annapolis Junction complex in Howard County and Stanley Black and Decker at Greenleigh.