MacKenzie Commercial tapped to fill Baltimore's World Trade Center

MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services LLC has been picked to help fill up the World Trade Center Baltimore, the iconic waterfront office building that the state decided last year not to sell to private owners.

Florida-based Meridian Management Corp., which manages the 30-floor, 300,000-square-foot building at 401 E. Pratt St. for the Maryland Port Administration, has awarded a subcontract to Lutherville-based MacKenzie to handle leasing and rent collection, Meridian said in a news release Tuesday.

"The new partnership with Meridian and MacKenzie will allow both organizations to combine coordinated efforts to return the World Trade Center to full occupancy," James J. White, executive director of the port administration, said in a statement.

In February 2007, Gov. Martin O'Malley officially called off the state's efforts to sell the building, citing issues including an occupancy rate that had fallen to about 52 percent.

At the time, acting Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said the state believed it was important to lease up the trade center's vacant space before resuming efforts to sell the building.

"We should only be interested in selling it if we're absolutely convinced that we're getting maximum value for the building, and I'm not convinced of that," Porcari told the Business Journal in February 2007.

The state has made some strides since then, including signing its Department of Business and Economic Development to about 77,000 square feet

The building's current occupancy rate was not disclosed in the release, and representatives from the Port Administration and MacKenzie Commercial could not be reached for immediate comment.

There are two anchor tenants in the building. Schulman, Treem, Kaminkow, Gilden and Ravenell has a full floor in the building, and a second law firm, McKennon Shelton & Henn LLP is expanding its space to take up a full floor as well, the release said.