Richard Williamson, St. John Properties (center) with Timothy Hogan, Hogan Companies (left) and Mark Glagola, Transwestern
St. John Properties, with approximately four million square feet of space clustered around BWI Airport, is positively impacted by the transportation hub which “remains a significant economic engine for the company,” Richard Williamson, Senior Vice President of Leasing and Marketing for St. John Properties explained to an audience of nearly 250 professionals at Bisnow’s recent seminar addressing “The Future of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.” The morning event was held at Live! Casino & Hotel in Arundel Mills.
“With 26 million passengers annually passing through the airport including 700 planes each day, there is a lot of freight to move around and businesses require nearby real estate to accommodate that cargo,” he said. In total, St. John Properties has developed and currently manages more than 5 million square feet of commercial office, flex/R&D and retail space throughout Anne Arundel County.
Williamson was among a group of four panelists that touched on a variety of real estate issues currently impacting businesses and residents. “We believe Anne Arundel County got the zoning regulations right,” he said, “which segregates light real estate users away from heavier users. This works for everyone.”
St. John Properties is currently developing a four-story, 100,000 square foot Class “A” office building on Bestgate Road in Annapolis. In a joint venture partnership with Reliable Contracting Company, the company recently broke ground on Waugh Chapel Business Park, a seven-building mixed-use business community near Odenton.
Mark Kleinschmidt, President of the Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce set the tone of the seminar by presenting current demographic data of the region. Figures he cited include more than 600,000 people residing in Anne Arundel County among 213,000 households, with an average median income exceeding $99,000. In addition, its labor force includes more than 326,000 people working throughout the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area.
