-Raimondi’s Secures Custom-Built Location in Owings Mills to Meet Growing Demand -
After calling Randallstown, Md. home for more than 30 years, Raimondi’s Florist is moving to a new, larger headquarters, thanks in considerable part to Jesse Schwartzman and Ryan Minnehan from KLNB.
The company is consolidating its Pikesville and Randallstown locations to a new, custom-built 15,500 square foot multi-use property at 10700 Red Run Blvd. in Owings Mills, an increase of more than 3,000 square feet from the previous Randallstown headquarters. The ample space provides double the refrigeration storage, jumping from 750 square feet to 1,500, while the floral arrangement design area increases from 6,000 square feet to 8,500. All of this extra space will allow the third-generation floral business to expand services and sales options, hire additional employees, and serve more customers than ever before.
But moving to a bigger location wasn’t something the business’ owners ever envisioned.
“I never thought we would outgrow our old space, but in all honesty, it was holding us back,” says Paul Raimondi, co-owner of the Baltimore-area flower company that’s been a local institution since 1934 when his now deceased grandfather, Constantino Raimondi, an Italian immigrant, opened a small grocery near Pimlico that sold individual flowers out of buckets.
Raimondi says online sales are driving significantly more orders compared to just a few years ago and the florist’s ownership has tremendous opportunity to increase its square-foot capacity to meet market demand, “We can now accommodate a significantly larger number of orders during peak holidays like Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. Our prior building limited us from meeting that demand. But the space KLNB discovered not only let’s us better serve our customers, we can now bring special offerings and promotions that are new to our business model.”
“In the end, it’s our community that really benefits from this new location, and they are what’s most important to us,”Raimondi says.
KLNB and the Raimondi’s team collaborated with Merritt Properties to design a customized building to accommodate the company’s current requirements, as well as its anticipated growth over the next several years. Merritt Construction Services broke ground on the building in February, completing the shell and interior fitout on schedule despite challenges posed by the COVID epidemic. The beautiful new location in Owings Mills will comprise multiple facets of the business including a café, retail sales, a bouquet design studio, climate-controlled storage, and a four-bay loading dock, all while being home to Raimondi’s corporate offices. Finding such a unique property in the Owings Mills area that also delivered high traffic counts and visibility was no easy task- as Raimondi soon discovered.After unsuccessfully looking for a new location on his own, he turned to Ryan Minnehan and Jesse Schwartzman of KLNB, which had previously secured several Raimondi’s retail spaces.
“The new location had to check a lot of boxes, but each one was critical to the company’s continued success,” says Schwartzman, a KLNB office and industrial specialist. “Paul trusted KLNB and Merritt to collaborate with him on coming up with ideas for the space that perfectly fit the company’s every need. We truly appreciate the level of confidence Paul had in our ability to find such a unique property.”
After carefully considering Raimondi’s needs,KLNB utilized the firm’s extensive knowledge of the region to quickly find several promising locations. One day while touring a possible site, Minnehan and Schwartzman suggested they consider looking at a new prospective development being built directly across the street within Merritt’s Red Run Business Park. After collaborating with Merritt to develop possible design plans and options, the deal was closed in February 2020.
”Merritt has been creating homes for businesses for more than 50 years, and it was a pleasure to team up with KLNB to support the growth plans of such an iconic, well-respected local business,” said Ashley Reimer of Merritt Properties. “We are honored that Raimondi’s entrusted us with their new headquarters and look forward to their continued success.”
Meeting such specific needs for a client is something KLNB is known for. In the case of Raimondi’s, the deal was the result of looking beyond what was simply on the market, and providing an ideal solution by exploring and explaining what was possible with a site that had yet to even be developed. The KLNB team often collaborate and exchange ideas internally, working diligently to find properties best suited for each client. As CRE specialists in the Baltimore-DC-Northern Virginia region, KLNB already had a strong relationship with Merritt, making the entire process for Raimondi’s flow quickly and easily. Given the size and scope of the move, transparency and collaboration were incredibly important to both Minnehan and Schwartzman
“Working with a cherished business like Raimondi’s is particularly rewarding because you know just how important they are to the community,” adds Minnehan, a principal in KLNB’s retail division. “This was one of the biggest decisions in the company’s 86-year history and the new location had to not only accommodate their existing needs, but allow for growth down the road so the next generation can continue the legacy that Constantino Raimondi began all those years ago.”
A public soft opening is scheduled for August 31, 2020. The official grand opening is slated for early September 2020.
About KLNB
KLNB is a leading provider of commercial real estate services throughout the mid-Atlantic region. An independently owned and operated commercial brokerage and real estate services firm, KLNB provides a variety of services including tenant and landlord representation, leasing, consulting, investment sales, property management, research, marketing, branding and financing services. More than 85 full-time brokerage professionals work across KLNB’s four offices strategically located throughout the Washington, D.C. / Baltimore region. KLNB is affiliated with NAI Global – the single largest, most powerful global network of owner-operated commercial real estate brokerage firms in the world. http://klnb.com
About Merritt Properties
Established in 1967, Merritt Properties owns the largest privately held commercial real estate portfolio in the region, with 17 million square feet of Class A office, flex, warehouse, industrial, retail and build-to-suit throughout Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. Capabilities include leasing, property development and management, design-build and financing. Merritt Properties is committed to “Creating Homes for Businesses” and providing the highest quality service to its customers. For more information, visit www.merrittproperties.com
