Wexford, University of Maryland Complete Baltimore Life Science Building

January 17, 2025

Office Baltimore Development Mid-Atlantic More News

The facility is part of a 1.2 million-square-foot campus.

Aerial view of the first phase of 4MLK, an eight-story building with glass façade. — The eight-story 4MLK is part of the 1.2 million-square-foot BioPark. Image courtesy of The University of Maryland, Baltimore

Wexford Science & Technology and The University of Maryland, Baltimore have opened 4MLK, an eight-story, 250,000-square-foot life science building in Baltimore.

The developer broke ground on the facility, which is part of the university’s BioPark, in the fall of 2022. An $81.5 million loan originated by Ventas financed the construction, according to CommercialEdge information.

The multi-tenant lab and office building is the third such facility developed by Wexford within the campus.

Located at 4 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the mid-rise is within walking distance of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and less than 1 mile from downtown Baltimore. The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is some 9 miles away.

The property comprises 160,000 square feet of Class A wet lab-capable space, 35,000 square feet of flexible, scale-in-place lab and innovation infrastructure and a 16,000-square-foot civic lounge and assembly space, along with an adjacent public plaza.

The building will house Wexford’s headquarters. In addition, a key tenant will be The University of Maryland School of Medicine, which will establish its new Edward & Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine at 4MLK. This center will enhance research collaborations and jointly develop cutting-edge innovations.

Part of a larger life science campus

The BioPark spans 14 acres and includes nearly 1.2 million square feet of laboratory, office, health-care and community-oriented space across seven buildings. Upon full occupancy, 4MLK will be home to the largest concentration of bioscience companies in the Greater Baltimore region.

The national life science construction pipeline has shown remarkable resilience, with 54.7 million square feet of new space underway between 2019 and October 2024, according to CommercialEdge data. Key life science clusters continue to prosper despite general economic challenges, largely due to their reliance on direct research and in-person collaboration.