This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
An Anacostia adult charter school purchased a 56K SF plot of land for $2M in a residential area of Ward 8 to build a new 40K SF school.
The school, Community College Preparatory Academy, was founded a decade ago to serve students in Wards 5, 7 and 8. It was the first adult charter school east of the Anacostia River, Monica Ray, chair of the school board and CEO of the Congress Heights Community Development and Training Corp., told Bisnow.
The academy leases its space from a KIPP Charter School location in Congress Heights at 3301 Wheeler Road SE, but its lease is expiring in 2024 and KIPP has plans to expand into the academy’s space, Ray said.
The new development at 1802 Woodmont Place SE is scheduled to deliver in June 2024, and Ray said the plan would be to move in immediately. The campus will have the capacity to serve up to 1,200 students with indoor and outdoor learning spaces, transportation amenities and technology-outfitted classrooms geared toward a hybrid environment.
Ray said the building will be designed specifically with adult learners in mind. The academy began looking for its own space three years ago.
“In many cases, adult charter schools are forced to operate in typical K-12 buildings,” she said. “So we’ll have an adult space built that caters particularly to the adult student.”
Access to transportation was crucial. The campus will be near multiple bus routes and will feature carpooling stations, electric vehicle chargers and bicycle racks. Outdoor classrooms were also a priority at the property, which is adjacent to a public park.
“Having therapeutic classrooms outside, that adults can experience the environment in a very safe way, is important to us,” Ray said.
The process of clearing the site has already begun, and Ray said shovels should be in the ground within a month. Students in the school’s construction program will participate in building the facility.
The school purchased the land from Woodmont LLC, which develops homes in the area. A large heritage tree on the plot prevented it from building more homes.
The academy had to work around those trees in creating plans for the space. In following the Protection of Heritage Trees act, Ray said the development team will have to replant one and monitor it for a year.
LEASES
Intellectual property law firm Nixon and Vanderhye signed a renewed lease for a smaller space in the Arlington Gateway at 901 North Glebe Road in Ballston. Savills brokered the deal for a long-term lease of 26K SF on the 11th floor.
Savills' Wendy Feldman Block, David Cornbrooks, Steve London, Ken Biberaj, Danielle Ferrari and Johanna Rodriguez represented the law firm in the lease, which allowed the company to reduce its space and rent "to reflect its current workplace policies," according to the brokerage firm's announcement.
Piedmont Office Properties Trust owns the 334K SF Arlington Gateway building.
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Three new tenants are coming to Jamestown’s Ballston Exchange mixed-use compex in Arlington.
Together, the new tenants will take up nearly 30K SF of the nearly 776K SF, 12-story, two-building Ballston Exchange.
Global nonprofit Management Sciences for Health leased 15K SF, professional management and technical services company EPIGEN signed for 11K SF, and advocacy organization for diversity in transportation COMTO is taking up nearly 4K SF. Cresa represented MSH and COMTO in their transactions. Cushman & Wakefield represented Jamestown in all three deals, as well as representing EPIGEN in its lease.
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International law firm Fried Frank signed a 10-year lease extension for its more than 100K SF at Lafayette Tower downtown. The law firm has been the main tenant of the 11-story building at 801 17th St. NW since it opened in 2010.
A press release announcing the extension says the firm is working with the landlord, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Advisor, on an upcoming renovation, including a renovated and expanded fitness center, roof terrace revamp, and a new indoor lounge and event space. Ninety percent of the building is leased, with several speculative suites available from 4K SF to 8K SF. Stream Realty represented the landlord, and CBRE represented Fried Frank.
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Local dog boarding and daycare business Atlas Doghouse plans to expand to a 3,800 SF location in the Capitol Riverfront, according to D.C. zoning records. The facility would be located on the ground floor of the Novel South Capitol apartment building at 2 I St. SE, owned by Dart Interests.
Founded in 2017, Atlas Doghouse operates an H Street location and has been approved for a Capitol Hill location at the Beckert’s Park apartments at 350 E St. SE, also according to zoning documents from the city.
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ANSER, a nonprofit that contracts with the federal government, signed a 12-year, 40K SF lease at a 22-story Shooshan Cos. mixed-use tower in Ballston.
Savills represented the tenant, which relocated from 5275 Leesburg Pike, part of the Skyline complex in Falls Church, owned by New York-based Somera Road. Savills Executive Managing Director Wendy Feldman Block said in a statement that the new location fits with the company’s goals of providing employees access to “lively, urban environments.”
The building has two stories of retail on the bottom, followed by eight stories of office and 12 stories of residential. Shooshan was represented in the lease by Lincoln Property Co.'s Gary Cook and Stoddie Nibley.
SALES
Boston Properties and Artemis Real Estate Partners purchased a pair of vacant office buildings and a parking deck in Herndon, Virginia. BXP spent $17.3M for a 50% stake in the property. The plan is to redevelop the 10-acre office complex at 13100 and 13150 Worldgate Drive into a 349-unit apartment and condo development.
MILESTONES
Gallery 64, the final piece of a 500K SF arts-focused redevelopment of the former Randall Junior High School in Southwest D.C., is complete. The 492-unit, 12-story apartment building is adjacent to the Rubell Museum, which opened in October 2022. The two are connected via a public courtyard.
The property boasts a music and podcast recording studio, programmed maker space, an activated rooftop with a pool, fire pits, grilling stations, dining niches and a dog walk, as well as 44 original art pieces commissioned for the property.
PERSONNEL
Reina Abboud is the new senior director of JLL Capital Markets’ Washington, D.C., office. Abboud will focus on debt advisory in the Richmond and Virginia Tidewater markets, the company said in a press release. Abboud was previously vice president at NorthMarq Capital, and before that she served as a financial analyst with Phillips Realty Capital.
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International architecture firm HOK named longtime principal architects Eli Hoisington, based in St. Lous, and Susan Klumpp Williams, based in D.C., as co-CEOs. The announcement comes after the firm’s former CEO, Bill Hellmuth, died on April 6, shortly after his planned retirement. The pair have served as interim CEOs since Hellmuth went on medical leave in May of last year. Hoisington and Klumpp Williams will continue to be based in St. Louis and D.C., respectively.
