LEESBURG, VA. — St. John Properties Inc. has broken ground on four buildings within Leesburg Tech Park in Leesburg. The tech park spans 17 acres, and the four speculative buildings will consist of 160,000 square feet of research & development/flex space with anticipated completion in the summer. St. John Properties purchased the land in 2016. The property is situated about 35 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — RD Management LLC, Heritage Capital Group and Summit Glory Investment have purchased Latitudes Apartments, a 448-unit multifamily community in Virginia Beach, for $67 million. When the renovation is complete, the asset will feature amenities including a new clubhouse, 24/7 fitness center and an expanded pool area/sundeck. The complex is located at 1701 Chase Point Circle in Virginia Beach, about 15 miles east of Norfolk. The seller was undisclosed.
ROSSLYN, VA. — The U.S. Postal Service has renewed its lease at International Place in Rosslyn, where it has housed its Office of the Inspector General for 20 years. USPS is the lead tenant in the 12-story office building, renting 115,747 square feet. Anna Gardiner of JLL represented USPS, and Dave Millard, Peter Berk, Nick Gregorios and Carline Guidera of Avison Young represented the landlord, The Meridian Group, in the lease. International Place is located about three miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
NORFOLK, VA. — Harbor Group International (HGI) has sold three apartment portfolios in Florida, Connecticut and Texas for a total of $700 million. The portfolios included seven properties totaling 2,284 units in Central Florida; two properties totaling 568 units in Connecticut; and 12 properties in Dallas and Houston totaling 3,100 units. The specific names and locations were not released. “These transactions are great examples of HGI’s ‘buy wholesale, sell retail’ investment strategy,” says T. Richard Litton Jr., president of HGI. “For all three of these portfolios, we developed individual business plans on a property-by-property basis and then sold the properties to a wide variety of buyers as each property’s investment goals were achieved.” The 21 properties were sold to a total of 15 different buyers. HGI claims the combined sales prices were $140 million higher than the company’s original acquisition price. Based in Norfolk, Harbor Group International is a private real estate investment and management firm that controls a portfolio of worldwide assets valued at $8.2 billion. The company’s real estate holdings include 3.7 million square feet of commercial properties and 30,400 apartment units. — David Cohen
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — PGIM Real Estate Finance has provided a $78 million FHA refinancing loan to Bonaventure Realty Group for Encore Apartments, a 461-unit apartment community in Alexandria. The 35-year, fixed-rate loan is fully amortizing, non-recourse and approved for green certification through HUD’s Green MIP program. The borrower, Bonaventure, will use the loan proceeds to recover costs incurred for capital improvements. Amenities at Encore Apartments include a swimming pool, movie theater/clubroom, fitness center and free community shuttle service.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — StonebridgeCarras has been selected to build the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, a $1 billion, 1 million-square-foot, technology-focused campus in Alexandria, less than two miles from Amazon’s HQ2 future site. Virginia Tech and the State of Virginia will each put forth $250 million to the new campus. Further funds are expected to come via private philanthropy, industry partnerships and other revenue streams. The new campus will be situated in River Landing, a newly branded neighborhood encompassing parts of Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in nearby Alexandria. The land is owned by investment firm Blackstone Group LP. The campus will include 300,000 square feet of academic space and research and development facilities, 250,000 square feet of partner space dedicated to startups and corporate facilities, 350,000 square feet of housing space for students and faculty and 100,000 square feet of retail and support spaces. An expected date of completion was not disclosed, but Virginia Tech officials say the first 100 master’s program students will enroll next year in a temporary space. The school also announced Bethesda, Md.-based StonebridgeCarras and the City of Alexandria have agreed to expedite construction.
RICHMOND, VA. — Community Preservation and Development Corp. (CPDC) has broken ground on two adjacent apartment buildings in Jackson Ward district of Richmond. One of the apartment buildings will include 82 units, 46 of which will be at market price. The other will be a 72-unit affordable community for seniors moving in from Richmond’s Fay Towers. The Richmond Times-Dispatchreported in July that the project would cost $33 million. Amenities are set to include a fitness center, dog-grooming room, media room, and outdoor patio and grill area. S.L. Nusbaum realty will manage the property, which is expected to begin leasing in October 2019.
CULPEPER, VA. — Heidenberg Properties Group (HPG) has acquired Culpeper Colonnade in Culpeper, located midway between Charlottesville and Washington, D.C. HPG bought the property from Regency Centers for $32.7 million. The 307,000-square-foot shopping center is anchored by Martin’s Food Market, Dick’s Sporting Goods and PetSmart. HPG plans to replace the center’s existing Staples location with a Michael’s store. The center, which is 100 percent occupied, also has Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread, Glory Days Grill, Chipotle Mexican Grill and IHOP as tenants. The property is shadow-anchored by a 127,000-square-foot Target. Since January 2017, Heidenberg Properties and its partners have acquired more than 900,000 square feet of retail.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Zeke Capital, based in Berwyn, Pa., has sold Hermitage Hill in Alexandria for $23 million to Columbus, Ohio-based Klingbeil Capital Management. The 122-unit apartment community is situated five miles southwest of the Pentagon and six miles southwest of Arlington National Cemetery. Hermitage Hill’s amenities include a fitness center and pet-friendly units. CBRE’s Bill Roohan, Robert Dean, Jonathan Greenberg, John McFadden, Yalda Ghamarian and Tom Leachman represented Zeke Capital in the transaction.
SEATTLE — Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has officially selected New York City and Arlington, Va., as the homes for its second headquarters, confirming reports last week of the e-commerce giant’s decision to split HQ2. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees in each new headquarters. Both campuses will feature 4 million square feet of new office space, which is expandable up to 8 million square feet at each location. New York City and Arlington will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America. “These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come,” says Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon. “The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.” The New York location will be in Queens’ Long Island City neighborhood. The Arlington office will be in River Landing, a newly branded neighborhood encompassing parts of Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in nearby Alexandria. Amazon estimates the incremental tax revenue to exceed $10 billion for the New York location …
