Business Is Good

There’s some big news on the local business front this Monday. As previously rumored in The Sun yesterday and today on the HowChow blog, Looney’s Pub has leased the recently closed Trapeze restaurant space in Maple Lawn. We reported that Looney’s was searching for a Columbia location back in September. I guess they felt the deal in Fulton was just too good to pass up. This will be Looney’s third location in Maryland.Over in Columbia Gateway, the word is that SAIC has committed to lease all of the 200,000 square foot Franklin Center at 6841 Benjamin Franklin Drive. Earlier reports had them leasing only about two thirds of the recently completed Class A office building so this is a significant change.

In Emerson, the James F. Knott Realty Group has purchased all of the remaining land in the Emerson Corporate Commons office park from General Growth Properties. Knott is just now completing 120,000 square feet of speculative office space in two buildings on Stephens Road in Emerson. We have heard that both of these buildings have been leased to an as yet undisclosed tenant.

In light of all of the grim economic news lately, this is yet another indication that our area may weather this recession better than most parts of the country.