30-acre automobile park planned for Glen Burnie

St. John Properties are moving ahead with a 30-acre automobile park at Ritchie Highway and Dover Road in Glen Burnie, company officials said.

Officials from the developer, one of the Mid-Atlantic's largest and privately held commercial real estate firms, said they plan to break ground on the first phase of the project in the spring.

Jerry Wit, senior vice president of marketing for St. John Properties, said he thinks the auto park will succeed by standing out from the other auto parks and facilities in the area, despite many repair shops and dealerships seeing a slowdown in business.

"I still think there's going to be a strong demand for an auto-related park in that area run professionally," he said.

He added that St. John Properties will maintain an attractive appearance at the park.

St. John Properties officials decided to pursue this project because the developer currently does not allow automotive tenants in its business parks, he said.

"We build multi-tenant buildings, so we require a certain homogeneity among the tenants," Mr. Wit said. "In general, automotive does not fit in a business park."

The company still receives a call every week from an automotive business wanting to get into one of their business parks, Mr. Wit said.

Phase One of Glen Burnie Crossing will include three buildings totaling just more than 100,000 square feet. Company officials said they expect to break ground in April or May on these buildings.

A second multiple-building phase will depend on how well the first three buildings are leased, Mr. Wit said.

"We're cutting back a little bit, but we're still going forward," he said.

Mr. Wit said he expects the first phase to be open in September if ground is broken in the spring as planned. Although no tenants have signed leases for space yet, Mr. Wit said St. John Properties is talking with one national chain, which he declined to name.In the slower economy, many local auto shops have reported sales down from last year, some significantly, and some local merchants expressed concerns and some puzzlement by plans for the automotive park.

Lou Calka, owner of Alpine Auto Service on East Furnace Branch Road, said Glen Burnie is saturated with auto businesses. His shop, which saw sales drop about 8 percent compared to last year, is less than half a mile from the site of the auto park.

"From what I hear from other shops and parts suppliers we deal with, they're certainly not going to be able to attract too much business," he said. "They're going to steal it from elsewhere and that's going to start a price war and that's not good for anybody."

He also said he's concerned that because many local auto shops are seeing a slowdown in business, a new auto park would have trouble finding tenants.

"I don't hear anybody doing better than last year," Mr. Calka said. "A facility that would be brand new like that, I'm sure rent will not be inexpensive. I imagine it will be difficult to get people to move in."

Other auto shop owners said they would welcome certain types of new places, but that they don't think national chains will fare well in the area.

"Another parts supplier would be nice, maybe someone willing to go back to customer service," said Willie Sharp, shop manager of Revels Automotive Incorporated, RAI, on Azar Avenue.

The shop had to recently let go of two employees to stay profitable with people spending less money on repairs, he said.

"I think a lot of it had to do with the uncertainty of the election, and now that that's over we're seeing an increase of cars coming in but people still don't have money," Mr. Sharp said.

Customers are getting small repairs done, but still putting off major, labor-intensive repairs, he said.

He said he thinks national chains coming to the auto park has the potential to hurt RAI and other small auto businesses, but that loyal customers will support the smaller businesses because they can beat the big chains' prices.

Ron Wehner, store manager of Fisher Auto Parts at 7218 Ritchie Highway, echoed Mr. Calka's sentiment that Glen Burnie is saturated with auto businesses and the economy does not make this an opportune time to build a new auto park. He said his shop's sales are off 30 percent compared to last year, which he attributes to people putting off expensive repairs.

"Hopefully, with a new president, maybe people will have a different outlook," he said. "You can only put off things for so long."