January 18, 2024
Law firm to move offices to Harbor Point
By Jessica Iannetta at Baltimore Business Journal
Duane Morris LLP will move its Baltimore office from Harbor East to Harbor Point, becoming the latest company to move to the waterfront development.
The Philadelphia-based firm has signed a lease for nearly 10,000 square feet to move its offices from the former Legg Mason tower at 100 International Drive to Wills Wharf, according to a Thursday news release from Armada Hoffler (NYSE: AHH), one of the developers behind Harbor Point. The move represents another downsizing for the firm, which announced plans in early 2019 to move into 14,000 square feet in Harbor East from its longtime offices at 111 S. Calvert St. downtown, where it had leased 17,000 square feet.
A spokesperson for Duane Morris said the firm expects to move into the new office in July. The firm had 14 lawyers in its Baltimore office as of May, according to Baltimore Business Journal research.
At Wills Wharf, Duane Morris will join office tenants including Transamerica, RBC Wealth Management and EY, which all moved from office space downtown; Franklin Templeton, which also moved from the former Legg Mason tower in Harbor East; and Jellyfish. The 325,000-square-foot building also has a Bright Horizons daycare and preschool and a Canopy by Hilton hotel on the top floors.
The Duane Morris lease brings Harbor Point to 97.1% leased, Armada Hoffler said, and comes after the mixed-use development recently signed several new restaurant tenants. Attman’s Delicatessen opened its second Baltimore location at Harbor Point this week. Chicken Lab, a South Korean crispy chicken restaurant, and an Italian restaurant from the owner of Canton pizzeria Verde are slated to open at the development this spring.
“This lease with Duane Morris LLP reinforces the unique appeal of Wills Wharf and strong demand for office space within Harbor Point,” said Louis Haddad, president and CEO of Armada Hoffler, in a statement. “Employees of corporate office tenants want to work in dynamic mixed-use environments. Providing such a collaborative workplace in a vibrant community has become imperative for employee recruitment and retention.”
Peter Jackson, Tony Gross and Rob Freedman of JLL represented Armada Hoffler in the lease. David Fields of CBRE represented Duane Morris. Jackson said in a statement that his firm had begun talking to Duane Morris about a move to the development back in 2018, before Wills Wharf and much of Harbor Point opened.
The 27-acre project has come a long way since then. The development has capacity for up to 3 million square feet of office, retail, residential and hotel space, as well as 9.5 acres of open space. Harbor Point already boasts the regional headquarters for Exelon Corp. and the Constellation Energy Corp. headquarters and work is underway on a new global headquarters for T. Rowe Price Group Inc. that is set to open this spring.
