The Blogger in the Room

This morning, at a breakfast meeting for commercial real estate brokers hosted by the HoCo EDA, Ken Ulman singled me out as a blogger.

Of course he was right but it still felt a little funny to be labeled as such in that setting because I was attending this function as part of my real job.

On the other hand, I realize that this is my new reality. Since I regularly post about HoCo loco politics, the exec now sees me as more of a blogger than someone who is actively engaged in commercial real estate. It actually took one of my colleagues to point out that I also represent the one of the largest new office developments in the county.

This was the first time Laura Nueman has hosted one of these quarterly gatherings and I think she presented her vision of the EDA quite well. In seven short months Laura has wasted no time in putting her own stamp on the county’s economic development efforts, including a wholesale restructuring of the staff. Under her leadership the EDA is launching a new Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship and recently completed a sales trip to Palo Alto to promote the county’s cyber security efforts in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The meeting was held at the new Robinson Nature Center in Columbia. It is pretty obvious that the exec is proud of the eco friendly facility too. On this rainy morning he was quick to point out the impervious features of the centers parking lot. I think this is an important ancillary benefit of the center. It provides developers and commercial real estate practitioners’ a real world demonstration of sustainable practices for development.