Agency Offers Space for Lease in Forest Drive Building

A large portion of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) building on Forest Drive is currently for lease, offering about 36,000 square feet of space.

MAIF is an independent agency of the state of Maryland, tasked with providing automotive liability insurance for those unable to get it through private companies. The building has served as the agency's headquarters since the late 1970s, according to MAIF Executive Director Kent Krabbe.

The left or western side of the single-story building is the space for lease. MAIF will still occupy the other side of the building, as well as the two-story, connecting building. 

"This business has contracted appreciably over five, six years or so and we've also reduced our staff levels through attrition," Krabbe said. "We simply got physically smaller and no longer needed all the space in our existing building, which we own." 

In nine years, MAIF has lost almost half of their employees and not because of downsizing. 

"Our business is very volatile—we expand and contract," Krabbe said. "At our last high point, back in 2004, we had over 600 employees. Now, today, we have about 360 employee and again, that's just through attrition."

By moving work spaces closer together, Krabbe hopes to "get some synergy and energy" among the MAIF employees, who were separated by space in the past. Of course, there's also monetary benefit.

"It''ll obviously save us on electricity," Krabbe said. "We'll make some money off it—really, the main reason is to improve our organization—to make us more efficient."

John Rosso of Annapolis-based Murphy Commercial Real Estate has listed the space for lease. 

"They were very spread out and that consolidation is opening up a new opportunity for a business to lease some space in there and it's up to 36,000 square feet," Rosso said.

This amount of office space is considered large for the area.

"It's the largest block of contiguous space available in Annapolis and the city of Annapolis," Rosso said. "It presents a great opportunity for a large company to get to move into the Annapolis area in a campus-like environment. We can also split the space ... [it] can be divided into smaller spaces."

Dennis Murphy, owner of Murphy Commercial Real Estate, said there's already been interest since the lease sign went up last week. The space is listed at $18 per square foot and comes with 380 parking spots.

Murphy said he received a call from a national brokerage company that represents a business looking for space in the area—who that business is, Murphy doesn't know.  

"There is some interest," Murphy said. "We'll have to see how that pans out."

See more:

• Construction To Start on Annapolis Commons

CORRECTION: This story was updated from a previous version to fix a misquote by John Rosso. Patch regrets the error.