Minkoff Development and South Duvall Lease Build-to-Suit Project to Hughes Network Systems at PIC MC Montgomery College Germantown Campus

ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A joint-venture between Minkoff Development and South Duvall has signed a lease with Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) to build a 140,000 square foot build-to-suit project on Montgomery College's Germantown Campus. The campus currently is home to the Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC) with Holy Cross Germantown Hospital as its anchor tenant. Located at 19710 Observation Drive in Germantown, Maryland, adjacent to the Hughes headquarters complex, the new high-tech manufacturing building will house production of Hughes satellite broadband and networking equipment. 

"This new facility reflects our long-standing commitment to Montgomery County, as a local employer and business leader for more than 50 years and will help Hughes advance our mission of connecting the unconnected around the world with innovative satellite and networking solutions," said Jim Muir, III, vice president, corporate real estate at Hughes. "We look forward to inviting students from PIC MC to learn and grow with us and continuing to engage with the community where so many of our employees live and work." 

Minkoff Development and South Duvall responded to an RFP from PIC MC in 2018 and the joint venture was awarded the exclusive development rights and long-term ground lease for the 5.67-acre parcel on the Montgomery College Germantown campus and located within a RISE & Opportunity zone.

"Hughes is a world-class provider of satellite and networking technologies with a long history in Montgomery County, Maryland," said Andy Chod, Co-President of Minkoff Development. "We are thrilled to be able to support their continued success in our local community and around the world."

As part of the arrangement, Hughes and Montgomery College (MC) will continue to collaborate on training and educational initiatives.

"Montgomery College is proud to be partnering with Hughes on this innovative venture. Together we can contribute even more to building the pipeline of talented, highly skilled workers at the MC Germantown Campus," said Dr. Jermaine F. Williams, president of Montgomery College. "We look forward to collaborating with Hughes to ensure that our students gain the skills they need to be competitive in the rapidly evolving workforce."

"We are excited about this mutually beneficial partnership with Hughes, where students will have the opportunity to interact with technology industry professionals on a regular basis. This transaction is the first of many anticipated collaborations between PIC MC, the real estate development community and technology companies at Montgomery College where we are creating an integrated academic, business, and research campus to inspire the next generation of technology industry leaders," said Michael Smith, Executive Director, Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology (PIC MC).

"South Duvall is fortunate to have excellent partners on this project," said Matthew Brown of South Duvall. "With Montgomery College providing an ideal location, Minkoff leading the development efforts, and Scheer Partners marketing and leasing the project, we had a huge advantage over our competition. The design is underway, and we expect to break ground in August, aiming for occupancy in fall of 2023."

Scheer Partners, Henry Bernstein, Matt Brady, and Aaron Gambini led the building's leasing efforts, and Kevin Wille, Nadia Kahler, and Brad Wilner with CBRE represented Hughes.

South Duvall (www.southduvall.com) is a commercial real estate investor headquartered in Rockville, MD focusing on value-add properties and select stabilized properties. Founded in 2017 by Robert Scheer, its principals have a two-decade track record of creating value through repositioning existing real estate assets throughout the Washington, D.C. Metro Area, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. While experienced in all asset classes, South Duvall is known for its expertise in Life Science, Health Care and Technology real estate. South Duvall's principals have developed over 600,000 SF of life science real estate and have additionally consulted on the development of two million square feet.

Since 1972, Minkoff has been actively engaged in Metropolitan Washington, DC's commercial real estate landscape. Offering development, leasing, construction and management services, our family-owned firm prides itself in fostering a caring environment to our tenants and attending to every detail in the buildings that we own. Our personal perspective is seen in every facet of the services that we offer, from finding the right home for businesses to guiding tenants through the design-build process or creating solutions to management requests as they arise. As an owner-operator, Minkoff affords its clients a smooth and transparent leasing experience and day-to-day operational excellence. Real estate remains a local industry that requires boots on the ground, and we give each project the specialized attention that it requires. Our vast expertise and deep understanding of the Washington market allow us to excel.

The Germantown Campus is home to the Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College, or PIC MC, a hub of education, business, and entrepreneurship, where industry partners co-locate and actively interact with faculty and students to achieve both educational and economic success. The Montgomery College Germantown Campus features the Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, an 80,000 square foot Medical Office Building, a 145,000 square foot bioscience educational building and the Montgomery County-owned, Germantown Innovation Center that is a business incubator with 24 startup life sciences companies.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), an innovator in satellite and multi-transport technologies and networks for 50 years, provides broadband equipment and services; managed services featuring smart, software-defined networking; and end-to-end network operation for millions of consumers, businesses, governments and communities worldwide. The Hughes flagship Internet service, HughesNet^®, connects millions of people across the Americas, and the Hughes JUPITER™ System powers internet access for tens of millions more worldwide. Hughes supplies more than half the global satellite terminal market to leading satellite operators, in-flight service providers, mobile network operators and military customers. A managed network services provider, Hughes supports nearly 500,000 enterprise sites with its HughesON™ portfolio of wired and wireless solutions. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes is owned by EchoStar. To learn more, visit www.hughes.com or follow HughesConnects on Twitter and LinkedIn.

EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a premier global provider of satellite communication solutions. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., and conducting business around the globe, EchoStar is a pioneer in secure communications technologies through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. For more information, visit www.echostar.com. Follow @EchoStar on Twitter.

SOURCE Scheer Partners, Inc.