Howard Hughes Corp. Secures $83M Loan for Maryland Apartments

The community in Columbia, Md., will be part of a 14 million-square-foot master-planned development called Merriweather District.

Marlow Apartments. Image courtesy of JLL Capital Markets

Howard Hughes Corp. has secured an $82.6 million construction loan to begin developing Marlow Apartments, a 472-unit community in downtown Columbia, Md.

JLL Capital Markets worked on behalf of an affiliate of the company to secure the floating rate loan for a four-year initial term with a one-year extension. 

The property will be built at 6200 Valencia Lane and will feature studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. In addition, eight lofts offering two-story layouts will be part of the development. The Marlow’s 510,181 rentable square feet will include 32,340 square feet of retail on the ground floor.

Part of a much larger, 14-million-square-foot master planned development, Marlow will be one element of the Merriweather District micro market. Ultimately, Merriweather District will include 1,900 units of multifamily, 2.3 million square feet of office space, 320,000 square feet of retail, a 250-unit hotel and about 60 acres of open space featuring a community pavilion.

Last month, JLL Capital Markets represented the seller in the disposition of the Prospect Place Apartments in Hackensack, N.J.  

Fifth development

The Howard Hughes Corp. is slated to deliver the property in Fall 2022. Marlow represents its fifth development in the micro market. Next to Marlow is the 382-unit Juniper, which it delivered in 2020. Also in the market is its 321,000-square-foot Class A 6100 Merriweather office building, home to Tenable world headquarters, unveiled in 2019. 

The Merriweather District surrounds a 40-acre parkland area called Symphony Woods. A part of this area is music and community venue Merriweather Post Pavilion. The pavilion has hosted Willie Nelson, Jimi Hendrix, Foo Fighters and other artists.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was overseen by Mark Gibson, Jamie Leachman, Jake Greer and Jackson Cabot.