Attention real estate brokers: A wealthy "Uncle" with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend is looking for at least 13.2 acres of developable property within 40 miles of Baltimore. If you have a suitable plot of land you'd like to move in this dreary economic climate, please contact the General Services Administration, the federal government's agent.

As The Sun reported in today's print edition, the Social Security Administration is in the market for a site for a new National Computer Center. The five-year, $750 million project is just getting off the ground, thanks to a $500 million downpayment in the stimulus law that was enacted this week.

During an interview yesterday with The Sun, the commissioner of Social Security, Michael J. Astrue, confirmed the land search but declined to reveal exactly how much property the agency was in the market for.

However, a recent letter to Astrue from Baltimore Congressman Elijah E. Cummings puts the figure at a minimum of 13.22 acres. Cummings cited a feasibility study conducted last year for Social Security by Lockheed Martin, which the agency has been using to guide its computer center development plans.

In the letter, Cummings urges Astrue to keep the National Computer Center in Maryland, "specifically, in Maryland's Seventh Congressional District, which I represent." Therefore, Cummings added, "I am requesting that you strongly consider building a new data center on the SSA campus, leasing an existing facility near the SSA Woodlawn, MD campus or building a new data center near the SSA Woodlawn, MD campus."

According to Cummings' office, the Democratic congressman has not yet received a response to his Jan. 23 letter. Astrue told The Sun that it is highly unlikely, for reasons of "national security," among others, that the Woodlawn campus would be a suitable site.