Carl M. Freeman Cos. strives to get close to the communities it works in, says Mike Reilly, vice president and general manager of the company’s Commercial Real Estate segment. “Once we get in there, we build relationships with the community folks and they in turn reach out.” he says. “We’re invested in the community and they are invested in us.”

For example, the company works closely with local organizations to host, support or provide community events such as a summer concert series, scarecrow-making festivals and horse-drawn carriage rides, according to Marketing Manager Kim Damion. “Our tag line for our company is ‘Building Community Since 1947’ and we take this call to action very seriously,” she says.

The company recognizes that development projects can be an inconvenience to residents of the communities it serves. In the late ’90s, the company was renovating a grocery store at the Rock Creek Village Center, in Rockville, Md., Reilly explains. This grocery store was essential to a senior housing community a block away whose residents were able to walk to get their groceries. “The renovation was expected to last nine months and we recognized the impact this would have on these residents,” he says.

“We provided a complimentary bus service that would pick them up and take them to another Safeway two miles down the road,” he says.

It was popular and the residents enjoyed the trips. They even thought of them as field trips, he adds. “They were getting all dolled up [for the trips],” Reilly says. “It was a neat thing.”

As a result of these efforts, the community cares about the company’s projects, says Joel Ballard, director of management services. For example, several community members called the company after seeing water leak out of a restaurant the company was renovating in Olney, Md., this winter. When company officials went to investigate, they discovered that a pipe had burst. If community members had not alerted it, the damage would have been much worse, he says.

Potomac Towne Center
Freeman Cos. builds and renovates commercial developments anywhere within a 100-mile radius of Washington, D.C. It targets growing, high-income communities with college-educated residents and limited competition, Reilly says. “We prefer to be a big fish in a small pond,” he explains.

It is developing Potomac Towne Center in Ranson, W. Va., 60 miles from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. The 1.5 million-square-foot project will have several shopping centers and an office complex, and will be completed by 2009.

The Marketplace at Potomac Towne Center, the first phase of the project, is a 366,537-square-foot shopping center anchored by Weis Supermarkets, Kohl’s and Home Depot. It contains more than 20 specialty stores and restaurants.

“We try to build our shopping centers to make them community friendly with wide sidewalks, lighting, pocket parks, entertainment venues, and also preserving much of the green space around the centers,” Damion notes.

“Commercially speaking, [development] is innovative for that marketplace,” Reilly says. “It has the first Kohl’s in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

“Five years ago, you would have never imagined Panera Bread out there,” he adds.

The second phase of the project, The Boulevard at the Potomac Towne Center, is 48 acres and will contain a Starbucks, office space, a movie theater and several restaurants. The movie theater will be the only one within 20 miles.

“It is an amazing opportunity and will have a very positive impact on the area,” he adds. “The company has one stated core purpose: helping people live better.”