AMERICAN SYSTEMS Signs Lease at Lexington Exchange in DC Suburb
By Keith Loria August 31, 2021 2:58 pm
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AMERICAN SYSTEMS has signed a 9,102-square-foot lease at Lexington Exchange, a 140-acre, mixed-use business park in California, Md.
The Chantilly, Va.-based government engineering and IT solutions provider, which has 17 offices nationwide, expects to relocate 25 employees to the business park by the end of September.
Baltimore-based St. John Properties owns the business park, and 23567 Oak View Drive was constructed on a speculative basis for American Systems and delivered earlier this year.
“The client was interested in a building that could support both office and warehouse uses, to support its recent contract win at [Naval Air Station Patuxent River],” Sean Doordan, St. John Properties’ executive vice president of leasing and acquisitions, told Commercial Observer. “St. John Properties’ in-house space planning and interior construction teams designed and built out the space to meet the exact requirements of American Systems.”
Located along Three Notch Road, the single-story building consists of 45,120 square feet of industrial space, and features 18-foot ceiling heights and drive-in and dock loading.
“Lexington Exchange is less than 10 miles from [Naval Air Station Patuxent River], which remains the most significant economic driver in St. Mary’s County,” Doordan said.
Lexington Exchange offers 120,000 square feet of flex/research and development space and 65,000 square feet of retail space overall. St. John Properties plans to construct an additional 615,000 square feet of flex/R&D space at the business community.
“The award of several new contracts, and the subsequent need to recruit additional employees, has fueled the expansion of our St. Mary’s County multi-office location,” Anthony Beamon, vice president of engineering and analytical solutions director for AMERICAN SYSTEMS, said in a prepared release. “The space within Lexington Exchange emerged as the winner of our extensive search based on its extreme building flexibility containing both office and warehouse uses.”
The business park presently contains an ALDI grocery store and a 12-screen RC Theatres cinema. In 2019, St. John Properties and development partner Chaney Enterprises announced plans to develop 6.5 acres of land nearby that will support end users, including restaurants, a fuel/convenience store, financial institution and urgent care facility.
With the lease, 23567 Oak View Drive is now 64 percent leased. The property also houses one other tenant — an undisclosed government contractor who signed a lease in April to occupy approximately 20,000 square feet.
Matt Lenihan of St. John Properties represented the landlord on the lease transaction, while JLL’s Matt Haas represented the client.
Keith Loria can be reached at kloria@commercialobserver.com.
