This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
One of the most high-profile development projects in D.C. that has been delayed for years is finally moving forward.
The District announced Thursday it sold a portion of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site to a joint venture of Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners, Trammell Crow and EYA for $17.3M.
The developers, working under the name Vision McMillan Partners, are expected to begin work immediately on a development that will include 146 for-sale townhomes, 467 apartments and more than 1M SF of healthcare space, according to a press release.
“After years of delays, we are one step closer to putting this land to good use,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement. “We have a plan that preserves the historical integrity and significant green space of the site, while simultaneously delivering much-needed housing, retail amenities, food access, and employment opportunities for the residents of Ward 5.”
Despite going so far as to hold a groundbreaking in 2016, the developers seeking to redevelop McMillan have been held up for years by lawsuits that weren’t resolved until last October.
Since then, the District has completed site work. It will remain involved in the mixed-use development as it works to construct an 8-acre park, 17K SF community center and pool.
D.C.’s $100M-plus investment in McMillan will also ensure the preservation of the 20 sand silos, four regulator houses and other features left over from the large-scale water purification facility that ceased operations in 1986.
SALES
Marcus Partners acquired a 268K SF, two-building industrial portfolio in Beltsville, Maryland. The 100% leased properties at 11900 and 12000 Old Baltimore Pike are zoned for industrial heavy use and provide one loading per 6,400 SF and 18-foot to 20-foot ceiling heights.
The properties “provide downside protection with the potential for upside value creation” for Marcus Partners, D.C. Regional Director Andrew Dolinsky said in a statement. Marcus & Millichap’s Chandler Pace and Dan Gaffey handled the acquisition and sale of the property, and CBRE’s Justin Glasgow and Curtiss Teffler handled financing.
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A joint venture between Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners and Nuveen acquired Carver Terrace, a 312-unit property near the H Street corridor, for $47M, property records show. The property, located at 2026 Maryland Ave. NE, will be preserved as affordable thanks in part to funding it received from Amazon's Housing Equity Fund.
Jair Lynch announced it would seek a resyndication of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for the property to restrict rents to 60% of area median income for all units. The Amazon funding ensures affordability will be held to at least 80% AMI for 99 years.
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Equity Residential sold the Calvert Woodley apartments in Northwest D.C. for $65.5M to Akelius. The 136-unit property was part of a portfolio that Equity acquired in 2013 through a limited partnership, Bisnow reported Tuesday. Akelius has been pursuing a U.S. expansion, and has acquired multiple properties in the D.C. area in recent years.
LEASES
Cowarehousing concept ReadySpaces has leased 96K SF at 3341 75th Ave. in Landover, Maryland. Colliers Senior Vice President Mike McGugan brokered the deal. This is ReadySpaces first location in Maryland and second in the D.C. area. It also has a space in Springfield, Virginia.
MILESTONES
Mayor Muriel Bowser was on hand with local officials to celebrate the grand opening of the Lidl Food Market in Skyland Town Center on Tuesday. The first new full-service grocery story to open east of the Anacostia River in 15 years, Lidl’s nearly 30K SF store is the latest anchor for a mixed-use development from Rappaport and WC Smith that also includes multifamily development.
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WMATA celebrated the grand opening of the Metro headquarters at 300 Seventh St. SW on Thursday. The new headquarters building at L’Enfant Plaza also features ground-floor retail and a new office for the D.C. Housing Authority, which announced in May that it was moving to the same property.
WMATA acquired its new headquarters building in November 2018 for $51.3M, and embarked on a reskin process for the property that including adding leasable office floors to the property one block south of the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, the Washington Business Journal previously reported.
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Wesley Housing celebrated the grand opening of The Waypoint at Fairlington on Thursday. The 81-unit building located at 2451 Menokin Drive in Alexandria is all affordable for those earning 30%, 50% and 60% of the area median income. The property features studios through three-bedroom apartments, and 11 of the four-story property’s units are fully ADA accessible.
The Waypoint cost $37.2M to develop, and it was financed in part by Alexandria, Virginia Housing, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Capital One, Freddie Mac and Hudson Housing.
