Atlantic Forest Products relocating from Port Covington to Sparrows Point

Atlantic Forest Products is the latest tenant to sign a long-term lease at Tradepoint Atlantic, joining a growing number of companies at the site of the former 3,100-acre Sparrows Point steel mill.

The wholesale distributor of building materials is relocating from Port Covington in South Baltimore, where a redevelopment of 266 acres of waterfront land is planned.

At Tradepoint in southeast Baltimore County, Atlantic Forest has signed a 15-year lease to takeover two adjoining storage buildings on the site totaling 160,000 square feet and covering 16 acres. The lease also includes 6,500 square feet of office space. The company currently employs 55, and plans to hire additional administrative and warehouse workers, said John Chisholm, president of Atlantic Forest Products.

The company posted 2014 revenue of $109 million and is on pace to hit $170 million this year, he said.

Atlantic Forest will move to the industrial space on Nov. 1, with the office lease beginning in January.

Other tenants to sign leases at Tradepoint include Under Armour Inc., FedEx Group and Pasha Automotive.

Atlantic Forest, which has been rapidly growing, sold its 12-acre plot of land on Dickman Street at Port Covington to Sagamore Development for $8 million in May 2015, state records show.

Since the sale, the company has since been looking “within a 30-mile radius” of Baltimore for new space, Chisholm said. Tradepoint’s access to both CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines made the site a good fit, Chisholm said. Atlantic Forest will use about 600 box cars in 2016, and plans to increase that 800 to 1,000 at Tradepoint.

John Wilhide and Jonathan Casella of CBRE represented Atlantic Forest in the search.

Tradepoint Atlantic CEO Michael Moore told the Business Journal in September that since Under Armour signed a lease for a 1.3-million-square-foot distribution facility at the project, interest in the site has grown immensely. At the time, he said seven deals were in the pipeline.

At Port Covington, Sagamore Development is planning a $5.5 billion mixed-use project with residential, makerspace and retail. The firm is owned by Under Armour Inc. CEO Kevin Plank. A new 50-acre Under Armour campus is also planned for Port Covington.