Real estate, like a family, has its chronology.

In 1936 Holman J. Poist of Poist Gas fame bought the property at 308 Compton Avenue in Laurel, MD. Thirty years later a carwash building was constructed on the property. Ten years after that in January of 1977, Mr. Poist leased the land to George Whetzel. George converted the carwash into a store for his bicycle business. Sometime after that George’s wife Dianna decided to open a daycare business. George reduced his store size to make room for her daycare. Overtime the daycare grew and George relocated his bicycle business. Sadly, George and his wife were later divorced, thereby losing both his wife and tenant.


In 1999, I was hired to list the building for lease. Prince Cable leased the entire building to service a three year contract. So in January of 2002, I was again tasked with finding a tenant for the building. Within a month or two a lease was signed for the entire building with the Milestone Enrichment Center, a daycare business. They are the tenant to this day.

During the course of the Milestone lease George had fallen in love and married Pamela. In 2005 George assigned the ground lease to himself and his wife. Five years later, in 2010, George and Pamela were ready to retire and travel the world. This time I was hired to sell the 33 year old ground lease. The lease is a 99 year, renewable, assignable, and redeemable ground lease – sometimes referred to as a “Baltimore type ground lease” and was very marketable. The daycare tenant we had found eight years earlier was eager to renew their lease. The Blueprint for Success – Experience Foundation supported both tenant and seller.

In March of 2010 the ground lease was purchased by the Kim family. The Kim’s own a nearby business and commercial properties. Interesting enough, way back when, the Kim’s had bought a bicycle helmet from George for their oldest child and more recently a younger child had attended the daycare. I look forward to being involved in the ongoing story of this piece of real estate's history.