BLYTHEWOOD – After being awarded a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Town’s Board of Architectural Review last year, and several delays, Developer Ken Queen has broken ground on two new office buildings on a lot he owns at 400 Main St. in downtown Blythewood.
“Crews began site work last week, stripping topsoil and starting grading,” Queen said. The site will be raised with imported fill dirt, work Queen said should be largely completed by the end of the week.
One of the tenants, he said, will be Olde Timey/Teague Meat Market.
“If construction stays on schedule, the buildings are expected to be completed June 23,” he said.
The project includes two separate structures on the same lot: a larger L-shaped building with multiple tenant spaces and a smaller, standalone office building designed to echo the historic Langford-Nord home across Main Street from the offices.
“The Board of Architectural Review suggested the historic look that would tie the offices into the look across the street,” Queen said.
Queen described the available spaces as:
- One roughly 3,000-square-foot section that will be occupied by the specialty grocery/market tenant. Two additional bays in the larger building, each about 1,275 square feet, will be available for rent.
- A standalone office building of about 1,600 square feet will back up to the former Wilson Store.
Queen said he does not plan to offer suites smaller than roughly 1,200 square feet.
“The 1,600-square-foot standalone building is laid out for a professional office user,” Queen said, with four offices, a break room, restrooms, and a conference room.
He said the two 1,275-square-foot bays could be configured for uses like law or medical offices, but that once required waiting areas, restrooms, and meeting space are factored in, a typical buildout would likely yield two to three offices plus a conference room.
Queen said the business Olde Timey/Teague Meat Market, which will take the approximately 3,000-square-foot space, has expanded to multiple locations and is in the process of transitioning branding from “Old Timey Meat Market” to “Teague,” a family name.
Queen said the remaining space is drawing interest. While the second building had initially been envisioned as a real estate office, he said he has since been approached by prospects in medical and legal fields.
“We actually have a couple of them,” he said, referring to interested tenants.
Rent Not Set Yet
Queen said he has not finalized lease rates yet, saying he wants to avoid mispricing until construction costs and final numbers are settled.