Land Use Update: Medical Office Building Approved for Downtown Columbia  

July 12, 2022

On July 7, 2022, the Howard County Planning Board approved a site development plan for a new 85,000 square foot medical office building in Downtown Columbia.  Shulman Rogers attorney Todd Brown, who serves as land use counsel to the Howard Research And Development Corporation (an affiliate of The Howard Hughes Corporation), guided HRD and its team of architects, engineers and planners in securing the latest approval for the burgeoning Third City between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. 

The medical office building will be located on a site that fronts Lake Kittamaqundi next to the Frank Gehry-designed building that served as Headquarters to Columbia founder The Rouse Company for many years.  The project site was improved as a surface parking lot in the 1970’s and is partially located within the 100-year floodplain.  Reconfiguring the  floodplain to include a flood storage chamber beneath the new building comprises a particularly novel element of the project, along with its unique design in relation to the Lakefront and Gehry’s signature building next door. HRD will complete and occupy the building in 2023.

For additional information on zoning, subdivision and other land use matters in Howard County or Montgomery County, please contact Todd at tbrown@shulmanrogers.com