Arborcrest redevelopment under way, master plan in the works

by Natalie Kostelni

A Maryland real estate investment trust has come up with a master plan for the former Unisys Corp.campus that entails eventually constructing an additional 800,000 square feet of office buildings.

This comes after Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) of Columbia, Md., has poured $69 million over the last two years in redeveloping existing buildings on the 137-acre property at Union Meeting Road and Penllyn Blue Bell Pike in the Blue Bell section of Whitpain.

In order to rebrand the property from its prior use as the headquarters for Unisys, COPT has renamed the campus Arborcrest as well as giving the five existing, older buildings new names: Lakeside I, Hillcrest I, II and III, and Woodlands I.

So far, COPT has finished the redevelopment of Lakeside I, a 219,000-square-foot building that Unisys now anchors. It is well into renovations of Hillcrest I, a 114,000-square-foot building that is 50 percent leased up and is now under way with the total overhaul of Hillcrest II, a 184,000-square-foot building. Hillcrest I and II had originally been a single, large building but has now been split into two. Part of the redevelopment of Hillcrest II will be an amenity center that will have meeting and conference rooms, a fitness area, locker rooms, and cafe.

“It’s another fairly significant investment we’ve made,” said Wayne Lingafelter, president of COPT’s development and construction division.

So far, it has leased up 490,000 square feet, or 65 percent, of 730,000 square feet in a total of four buildings. Jones Lang LaSalle has the listing.

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/8vv5t3q

www.omegare.com