2019 YTD CRE Sales for Frederick County slip by 6% and YTD number of transactions fall by 22%.
It seems Multifamily transfers continue to find a way to make the top of the quarterly sales charts in local transactions. Out of the least eleven quarters apartment building closings have reached the pinnacle 64% of the time with those 7 transactions totaling $356 million compared to 4 top sales in other categories only accumulating $54 million.
All that stated, it appears that the multifamily market may be slowing a bit — a clear decrease in the size and number of transactions in 2019 falling off considerably compared to last year’s record breaker. Q3 ’19, instead, may be a turning point. For the first time in a while, the top 5 transactions reflected a reasonable cross section of the make segments:
Multifamily
The Reserve at Ballenger Creek Apartments located on Ballenger Center Drive on the southern edge of the City of Frederick boundary was sold in July for $38.5 million. The 204 unit complex was built in 2000 and sits on 11.5 acres. The purchaser Hamilton Zanger, a large apartment concern based out of San Francisco, paid about $189,000 per unit.
Mineral Mining
If you’ve been around Frederick County for more than a few decades, you know that the Barrick family name from town of Woodsboro has a long history of prominence. In 1924 is was the birthplace of the late Samuel W. Barrick, a very popular circuit court judge serving both Frederick and Montgomery counties between 1970 and 1985. My much better half Nancy and I were proud to call Sam and his wife Joan friends for many years. In his early years, Sam spent countless hours working for the family business SW Barrick & Son, Inc., a lime and stone business. The business has since changed hands a couple of times, but the quarry still bears the family name in honor of the rich history it has given the community since 1874. The 882 acre property was acquired again this past August for a price of $6.5 million by Laurel Sand and Gravel, which is part of a large regional aggregate, asphalt, concrete and block business with holdings in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Flex/Office
Situated in the OMEGA Center just of the City of Frederick off of Buckeystown Pike, 7320 Executive Way recently changed hands in August for $5.8 million from EROS LLC to Cinder & Concrete Block Corporation, a Cockeysville, Maryland based concrete products manufacturer that is owned by York Building Products. Exactly what C&CB plans to use the property for other than investment is not known at this time. The property is situated on 3.5 acres and is improved with a multi-tenant brick structure that contains 43,876 square feet of leasable space.
Warehouse & Retail
I put these two categories together due to the fact that two different properties were under ownership by the same family. The family name is Fishman, and the company run for two generations was known as Rosemont Management. The patriarch of the family was the late Sid Fishman, a former client and wonderful man with a pleasant personable style. He developed a complex of small warehouse/office/flex buildings on Industry Lane, as well as a small retail center on Waverly Drive. Sid left the properties to his three children who continued the management of the projects. After interviewing, gleaning knowledge and very good leads from yours truly and several other CRE types within the region, the Fishman siblings chose to sell the properties on their own, and, frankly, did pretty well. The Industry Lane property was comprised of 19 condominium and fee owned units containing a total of 47,000 square feet and sold for $4.6 million in July. The retail shopping center located at 45 Waverly Drive off of US RT 40 contains 14 leasable units totaling 21,100 square feet. This property sold in September for $3.48 million.
Stay tuned for more timely Commerical real estate news from in and around Frederick County, Maryland here at the MacRo Report Blog!
Rocky Mackintosh, President of MacRo, Ltd., a Land and Commercial Real Estate firm based in Frederick, Maryland, has been an active member of the Frederick community for over four decades. He has served as chairman of the board of Frederick Memorial Hospital and as a member of the Frederick County Charter Board from 2010 to 2012. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Frederick Mutual Insurance Company. Established in 1843, it is one of the longest enduring businesses in Frederick County.