Slow Growth

Another sign of the slowing development market?

The Howard County Council is asking lots of questions about a proposal to move county offices into one floor of a proposed office building in Oakland Mills. The developer, according to this story in the Sun, says "the delay in government approval of the purchase of 15,000 square feet of office space is hurting his ability to sign other buyers, who are worried the county might back out."

Olusola Seriki, a principal in Metroventures Inc., the office building's developer, is a former village resident and a former Rouse Co. official. The Sun reported that he needs to sell about half of the 60,000-square-foot building to get construction financing. (His own firm plans to move to Columbia from Baltimore and occupy 5,200 square feet of office space--so that leaves about 10,000 square feet he still needs to fill just to keep the project on track.)

Projects like this are becoming harder and harder to do, as worries grow that economy is slowing.