NoVa State of the Market: Part II
Healthcare is a huge growth driver for NoVa, and an opportunity for real estate. Inova Health Systems CEO Knox Singleton told Cardinal Bank president Kevin Reynolds at Bisnow’s Northern Virginia State of the Market event Wednesday that the sprawling firm, which he's run for 31 years, is nearly done with the redevelopment of Fairfax Hospital yet doing work on all of its hospital campuses. He says the trend is going toward more clusters of physicians at different sites, including DC and Maryland, where patients can get fast, inexpensive, high-quality care.
Fairfax County Economic Development Authority president Jerry Gordon (left) says Tysons will go from 25M SF in office space to 70M; jobs will grow from 100,000 to 300,000; and residents will go from 17,000 to 100,000. But there’s 18M SF of office to fill—more than all the office space in Richmond and Loudoun County. The region’s construction is throwing supply and demand cycles out the window, he adds.
Tysons Partnership executive director Michael Caplin says the Metro trip from Spring Hill to Capital Hill will be 42 minutes, and it’ll take 43 minutes to get to National Airport.
Arlington County is focusing on emerging tech companies as it grapples with 20% vacancy rates, mostly due to BRAC. The county’s federal presence, which includes DARPA, DOD, and military offices, will be flat, but the companies serving and wanting to serve those agencies are growing, says Arlington County business development director Christina Winn. (Any band will tell you: It's all about the groupies.) The county is getting ready to offer another selling point to businesses, when it turns on its dark fiber broadband service, which has been only available to government buildings and schools.
Brokers aren’t the only ones filling square feet. We also heard from economic developers luring companies. Loudoun County is home to 8M SF of existing and planned data centers attracting tech companies, says the county's Steve Hargan. The county’s Class-A office vacancy is at 15%, but Steve says there are several clients looking at build-to-suit. The Silver Line will extend to the county in 2018 and officials will start heavily marketing it next year.
