Database marketing agency Merkle will move its corporate headquarters from Lanham to Columbia, MD.
Construction will begin in April on the five-story, 120,000 square-foot Class A building and is scheduled for completion in June 2008, according to Merkle.
The new office campus will be in Columbia Gateway, a 584-acre corporate business park on MD Route 175 and I-95 in Columbia. The first building will feature office space for up to 550 employees and a 10,000-square foot state-of-the-art data center. In addition, Merkle has purchased an adjacent 4-acre parcel to accommodate a second building of approximately 70,000 square feet that would accommodate an additional 350 employees. Merkle estimates that it will invest about $65 million in its new corporate headquarters’ campus in Columbia Gateway.
Currently, Merkle employs approximately 1,000 staff members throughout the country, 800 of which are in Maryland. Of these, 350 employees are at its current headquarters. Merkle plans to significantly increase its staff at the new location shortly after the opening.
Merkle has assembled project team to facilitate the development of its new corporate headquarters campus. The building is being developed and constructed by Manekin LLC, the largest full-service commercial real estate company operating in every sector of the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., marketplace. The architect for the project is Design Collective Inc., an award-winning multidisciplinary design firm. Interior work has been contracted to STUDIO B2SJ, a multidiscipline architecture and design firm. The Staubach Company acted as a consultant throughout the project.
