Lex Park Businesses Keep Growing
Posted for The Art Park
In Lexington Park, MD, home to NAS: Patuxent River, the local office of First Command, the international financial services adviser long associated with the US military, is located at 21615 S.Essex Drive. When the office needed to expand it was good news and well timed for the landlord, who had a recently vacated space next door.
But it was not unexpected . Landlord Tom Watts, a Lexington Park advocate and businessman, knew the company was successful, but further knew that his L-shaped, brick building at S. Essex and Great Mills Road has historically held new businesses that have prospered.
This is the history of Lexington Park in general and Great Mills Road specifically, says Mr. Watts. He serves on the St. Mary’s County Economic Development Commission and insists that many of the strengths of Lexington Park go unrecognized, and points to business successes within the surrounds of NAS: Pax River. First Command is another success, says Mr. Watts. The business started out small, made a success at its location, and now needs to expand.
Another successful Lexington Park business, Ballet Calliente, was begun in the space next door to First Command. At the time First Command faced its need to expand, the studio had outgrown its space it moved, but remained within the Pax River surrounds.
The neighborhood is one of business success stories. Across Essex South are two successful, locally grown defense contracting firms which remain on a continuous growth pattern.
Mr. Watts considers expansions of neighborhood businesses and other small or start-up businesses are the natural tenants for Lexington Park, MD. The community just outside the gates to NAS: Patuxent River continues to provide the low commercial square-footage pricing and top proximity to the base, he says.
Mr. Watts has conceived and created a wide array of re-purposed uses for Lexington Park properties. They include turning a warehouse include a cross-fit gym, building small athletic spaces within office buildings, fitting a school in an abandoned recreation center, and creating a second-story ballet studio overlooking the woodlands and marshes of the upper reaches of the St. Mary’s River watershed.
Yes, recycling and repurposing is key when the location is making total sense. We should be making use of what is right at hand in Lexington Park, instead of sprawling. Better yet, some building should be concentrated there, and not on the inside of the gates, where the community can’t tax it and get revenue to run our local government. Taking development out of the control of citizens and calling it security is a bogus argument. The community is providing residential development for those workers. Residential development costs local government $1.50 for every $1 of tax revenue collected. A farming community costs 50 cents for every tax dollar collected. Without federal dollar infused into local infrastructure, locals pay higher real estate taxes. My real estate tax has doubled in ten years. I live and grew up on a family farm on the water, so the tax is getting significant.