BALTIMORE (September 17, 2010) – St. John Properties has initiated construction activities on three new Class “A” commercial office buildings at The Government and Technology Enterprise (The GATE), a 416-acre, state-of-the-art office and technology business park located immediately within Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) in Harford County. Upon delivery of the new office product by mid-year 2011, the three buildings will add approximately 180,000 square feet of speculative space to The GATE.

The latest projects include 6200 and 6210 Guardian Gateway Drive, three-story office buildings containing approximately 75,000 square feet of Class “A” office space each; and 6180 Guardian Gateway Drive, a single-story 29,400 square foot Class “A” office building. Five additional office buildings are under construction at The GATE and, with these three new projects, St. John Properties is currently constructing eight different Class “A” buildings totaling 467,000 square feet of space. The company has the capacity to build more than two million square feet of Class “A” multi-story and single-story space, as well as research and development (R&D) flex/office space at The GATE.

“Our company continues to experience strong and sustained leasing activity within The GATE and our objective is to stay ahead of the demand for new commercial office space in the Aberdeen Proving Ground marketplace,” stated Jerry Wit, Senior Vice President-Marketing for St. John Properties, Inc. “As tenants begin taking occupancy of these spaces in our business community this fall – coupled with the opening of the Command, Control, Computer, Communication, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Headquarters – we anticipate an accelerated volume of leasing to occur.”

The three new buildings have been designed to satisfy the requirements for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) Silver-certification as prescribed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). This includes a high-efficiency HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, high performance windows to reduce energy usage, lavatory fixtures with sustainable elements to conserve water, a white thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roofing system, wetland/forest preserves and significant open space and drought-tolerant landscaping, among other features.

“Throughout our development activities for The GATE, St. John Properties has embraced the Harford County Executive Challenge to significantly reduce energy/water consumption in the new office projects, and implement a range of sustainable building and operational practices,” Wit added. “These standards, in turn, are designed to encourage and offer incentives to the end-user tenants to also adopt green and environmentally-friendly policies.”

The GATE is immediately proximate to the 2.4 million square foot campus housing the Command, Control, Computer, Communication, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Command operations, bringing approximately 8,200 workers from existing facilities at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and elsewhere. The relocation of C4ISR to Harford County is generally recognized as the primary driver that will stimulate BRAC-related commercial real estate activities in the area for the next twenty years. Located at the main entrance to APG , The GATE — which is the closest office/technology park to the new C4ISR facility — is situated at the main gate to APG which provides the only 24/7 unrestricted entrance to APG. This is compared to the alternative gate entrance at the Army base, which is restricted to APG employees and provides limited hours of access.

About The GATE
The Government and Technology Enterprise (The GATE) is a 416-acre, state-of-the-art office and technology business park located immediately inside Aberdeen Proving Ground. St. John Properties is developing the park for lease to government sector and non-government users over an anticipated 20-year build-out.

About St. John Properties
St. John Properties, Inc., founded in 1971 as MIE Properties, owns and has developed more than 15 million square feet of R&D/flex, office, warehouse and retail space in Maryland, Colorado, Louisiana, Virginia and Wisconsin. For more information about the company, visit sjp.mu9b0uf9-liquidwebsites.com.

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For more information, contact:
Al Cunniff, Director of Marketing, St. John Properties, Inc.
410-369-1277