WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL: One of Maryland’s most prolific developers is joining and apparently accelerating the effort to develop Viva White Oak, a gigantic but long-stalled mixed-used project with a multibillion-dollar price tag next to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring.
The development, first spearheaded by Global LifeSci Development Corp., an affiliate of Percontee Inc., more than a decade ago, would include millions of square feet of new buildings, includinglife science-focused commercial and residential uses, across some 280 mostly vacant acres, including a former quarry and adjacent land Percontee bought from the county in 2018. Percontee’s website says the plan is for 7 million square feet, though a 2018 approval from the county’s land use regulatory agency puts the site’sdevelopment capacity at a whopping 12 million square feet. In any case, Percontee has never quite gotten the project, with a cost once estimated at $3 billion, off the ground.
Perhaps that’s about to change. Global LifeSci andBaltimore-based MCB Real Estate, in headlines recently for its big plans around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, “have executed a purchase and sales agreement for the development of Viva White Oak, transitioning from due diligence to the project’splanning and design phase,” according to a blurb in Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s recently proposed capital budget. The project has long entailed a combination of biotech-centric laband office, residential and retail.
Viva White Oak is anticipated to break ground in the “latter portion of 2025,” with both MCB Real Estate and Global LifeSci planning “to engage community stakeholders as the project progresses through design, planning and tenant interests,” per Elrich’s budget.
Beyond that, details are scarce. A person familiar with the deal who declined to be named told me the agreement is confidential, but that an MCB executive will now lead Viva White Oak’s development. Neither MCB nor Elrich’s office have yet returned requests for comment.
The information available, while suggesting MCB is taking up the torch, doesn’t suggest Global LifeSci is out completely. MCB could be taking a majority equity stake in the project, with Percontee staying onboard as a passive minority owner.
Peter David Bramble, MCB’s managing partner and co-founder, signed a state corporate filing establishing MCB White Oak Developer LLC in March 2023.
Percontee’s Global LifeSci Development Corp. is still active in state corporate filings and still owns the land where Viva White Oak would go, according to county and state property records.
Elrich’s budget proposal repeats earlier language about Viva White Oak representing a public-private partnership, noting that the county has already spent $5 million cleaning up the land it sold to Global LifeSci, and recommending a further $40 million “to construct the roads to support this work.” It’s unclear whether additional county involvement or incentives, such as through property tax arrangements favorable to the developer, arecontemplated. Such incentives usually accompany big developments like this, though not always.
