The Goddard School inks lease at Baltimore Crossroads
Baltimore Business Journal | Melody Simmons
White Marsh, MD (May 3, 2016) — Weeks before the official groundbreaking of the 200-acre Greenleigh at Crossroads project in White Marsh, the Goddard School announced Tuesday it has signed a lease for a 13,000-square foot facility at the Baltimore Crossroads development.
The nationally franchised child care and preschool company inked the deal with St. John Properties Inc. to build a new school at 11560 Crossroads Circle at the fledgling development located off of Interstate 95 in eastern Baltimore County.
It will be the third franchise for local businessman Dave O’Brien, who also has Goddard schools in Forest Hill and close to three miles away from the new site in White Marsh. Each Goddard School is independently owned and operated and enrolls infants and children from six weeks to six years old.
The Greenleigh facility will be licensed for 167 students and will open Aug. 1, O’Brien said.
“It is a planned community and the last big growth area in Baltimore County, so we’re probably a little early to the process out there,” O’Brien said Tuesday morning. “In some ways, we’re an amenity to the homes that are going in soon. It’s a win-win.”
The shell of the new school is already built and the Goddard franchise is leasing about 55 percent of the space in the building that is located off of Route 43, O’Brien said.
The new school will bring 38 new jobs to the area, he added, with the hiring of 35 teachers and three administrators.
Baltimore Crossroads is a 1,000-acre mixed-use business community that has been under construction for nearly a decade.
Later this month, St. John Properties and Somerset Construction will break ground on Greenleigh at Crossroads, a 200-acre residential portion of the development. There, 1,500 new single family, townhouses, condominiums and rental units will be built alongside 420,000 square feet of office space and 123,000 square feet of retail space. There is a hotel also planned for the site.
The first residential units are expected to be ready in 2017.
St. John officials said Tuesday there are currently 20 buildings open at the Baltimore Crossroads development using 600,000 square feet of office, flex and retail space. Some of the tenants include a Royal Farms, Fitness Rave, Zesto Pizza & Grill and Subway.
Matt Lenihan was the leasing representative for St. John Properties in The Goddard School deal.
There are a total of 27 Goddard Schools in Maryland, and 16 are located in the Baltimore metro area, a corporate spokeswoman said Tuesday.