BWTECH@UMBC CONSTRUCTION REPORT
June 2007
bwtech@UMBC is a 41-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). bwtech@UMBC has a total development capacity of up to 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. The park will ultimately comprise five new state-of-the-art buildings occupied by research and technology firms. The firms have access to university expertise, students, technology, programs and facilities. Construction of the university's research and technology park is on schedule.
bwtech@UMBC was Maryland 's first university research park. It is the only research and development park in Baltimore County. The Park's first building, 5521 Research Park Drive, completed in 2001, is occupied by RWD Technologies. A second building, 5523 Research Park Drive, completed in 2004, is fully leased. Both buildings are owned by Merritt Properties, LLC.
The real estate development firm Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) is managing construction of both the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) building and a 110,000 square-foot, four-story, multi-tenant building at bwtech@UMBC, the park's fourth of five planned buildings.
The Erickson facility will be the fifth bwtech@UMBC building.
Click here for an article in the Baltimore Sun regarding the progress of UMBC's research park.
5522 Research Park Drive
Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) broke ground for the U.S. Geological Survey MD-DE-DC Water Science Center at 5522 Research Park Drive in September 2006. Construction is expected to be substantially completed by July 10, 2007, and the USGS move-in date is August 13, 2007. A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for September 10, 2007. An open house for the university community and the public is scheduled for October 24, 2007.
The USGS MD-DE-DC Water Science Center employs about 75 scientists and support staff (60 in the UMBC facility, and the remainder at FSU in Frostburg, MD, and in Dover, DE ). The Research Park Drive location is expected to strengthen USGS collaborative work with UMBC and U.S. Forest Service scientists who monitor the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the health of the region's water supply, rivers and streams, and study the effects of urbanization on hydrology and ecosystems.
The U.S. Geological Survey's decision to move from its previous location in White Marsh was strongly influenced by the longtime research partnership between USGS and UMBC's Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, Center for Urban and Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the U.S. Forest Service and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.
5520 Research Park Drive
The building pad has been graded for 5520 Research Park Drive , our 110,000 sq.ft. signature building. The total construction cost is projected to be approximately $22 million.
The building permit for 5520 Research Park Drive was submitted in April to Baltimore County . We are waiting on the permit, but anticipate construction commencing by June 15 with a ‘shell substantial completion' in 13 months (August 2008).
Click Here for more information.
5525 Research Park Drive
Erickson Development Services will construct a $20 million building at 5525 Research Park Drive . Erickson will begin construction of the four-story, 97,695 sq.ft. building in July 2007 and will be completed by the Fall of 2008. Erickson will move its information technology (IT) department and adult living national broadcast network Retirement Living TV (RL-TV) to the building.
The move will increase research collaboration and internship opportunities between the Erickson organization and UMBC students and faculty in The Erickson School and visual arts , communications and information technology programs.
The Erickson School at UMBC grew out of Erickson founder John Erickson's vision for interdisciplinary research and education to improve life for older adults. Since its start in January 2005, the School has launched an undergraduate major in management of aging services, expanded an executive education program for senior housing and care professionals and is planning a professional master's program. Current research partnerships between The Erickson School and the Erickson organization include developing new computer technology applications for seniors' housing, support for three gerontology doctoral students' studies of older adult health and well-being and proposals to make selected Erickson communities National Institute on Aging research sites.
RL-TV will house its corporate headquarters and three production studios in the new facility. The network recently signed a national broadcasting agreement with DirectTV to expand its viewing audience to over 24 million homes. Retirement Living TV produces programming focused on health, finance, politics and living for people over the age of 55. RL-TV recently partnered with UMBC's New Media Studio to produce pilots for two programs and is expected to collaborate further with UMBC's Imaging Research Center and College of Arts , Humanities and Social Sciences.
Erickson's IT department will work with UMBC on advanced research in health informatics, real time data applications, information assurance, data security and wearable computing.