This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet: $250M Development Cleared For Navy Yard
A 600-unit project on the Navy Yard riverfront is clear to move forward with construction.
D.C.’s Zoning Commission unanimously approved the next two phases of MRP Realty and Florida Rock Properties’ development across from Nationals Park, MRP Realty Founding Principal Frederick Rothmeijer told Bisnow Friday.
Besides the apartments and some street retail, the project would also extend the Anacostia Riverwalk to the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, where the District Department of Transportation is building an underpass to connect to Buzzard Point.
The residential towers are the final phases of the partnership’s development between the Anacostia River and Nationals Park. MRP and FRP developed 569 units across apartment buildings Maren and Dock 79.
Now that the next phases are approved, the partnership intends to finish the designs and start looking for financing. It expects to begin construction on the first of the buildings by the end of 2026.
The first phase is expected to cost $120M and the second phase $130M, Rothmeijer said. MRP and FRP will provide the equity and the partnership will look for debt.
The properties were originally slated to be hotel and office, but the developer applied for a change of use along with its second-stage Planned-Unit Development in August.
The development also is set to bring 6K SF of ground-floor retail, a dog park between the buildings, a native plant garden and a subterranean 385-space garage. SK+I Architecture is the architect.
PERSONNEL
The Washington Commanders have a new head of real estate as the franchise searches for its new D.C.-area home. Andy VanHorn, who was most recently president and chief development officer at Dweck Properties, joined the team, the Washington Business Journal reported. VanHorn posted the new position on his LinkedIn page, which said he would be “leading real estate related efforts for the new team stadium, support facilities and adjacent real estate.” He said he will be responsible for “the design, construction and completion of the real estate elements associated with the new stadium.” Before Dweck, VanHorn spent nearly 16 years at The JBG Cos. and JBG Smith.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
True Ground Housing Partners, formerly the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, broke ground last week on a 130-unit senior affordable housing development near Dulles Airport. The project is the first of a two-phase community, Avonlea, which is expected to total 267 homes.
The first phase is expected to cost $64M, with construction costs coming to around $33M. It will cater to residents 55 and older, making between 30% and 60% of the area median income. The second phase will be reserved for affordable family housing.
LEASES
Planet Fitness inked a deal to lease a former Kohl's in Herndon, the Washington Business Journal reported. The gym is subleasing space from Lidl, which took the entire 106K SF footprint of the shuttered department store at 2100 Centerville Road last April. Lidl only needs less than 29K SF of that footprint, so Planet Fitness and Hobby Lobby are stepping in to fill the excess, per the WBJ. It could open as soon as this fall.
SALES
A 266-unit Navy Yard apartment building was sold to its lender with a credit bid this week. Torchlight Investments took over the building in a $98.8M, ground-lease-in-lieu-of-foreclosure transaction for Onyx On First at 1100 First St. SE, Bisnow reported. Onyx Owner LLC, which is owned by Blue Owl Capital and Urban Investment Partners, filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year, and the sale was approved by a judge earlier this month.
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Indiana University purchased a 1960s-era Dupont Circle building from Johns Hopkins for $17.5M, D.C. deed records show. Bisnow first reported in October that the Big 10 school was under contract to buy the 59K SF property at 1619 Mass. Ave. and was planning on using it for a new D.C.-based campus. The property is one of three Johns Hopkins vacated when it moved into the former Newseum in 2023. The university sold another building at 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW to the Republic of Poland in December for $20.1M.
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A Brookfield fund offloaded a 148K SF Arlington office building at a slight loss. The fund sold Arlington Medical Center at 1005 N. Glebe Road to Remedy Medical Properties for $47M, Arlington County property records show. Brookfield acquired the 1988-era property from WashREIT, now Elme Communities, in 2021 for $50.2M, the WBJ first reported.
MILESTONES
The team behind The Stacks, a 1,100-unit project at Buzzard Point, is bringing in a pop-up extended stay operator. Placemakr will be offering about 120 rooms at The Byron apartment tower, developed by Akridge and National Real Estate Development, for nightly, weekly and monthly stays beginning March 27. The Stacks, which opened to its first residents in January. Akridge, Bridge Investment Group, Blue Coast Capital and National Real Estate Advisors own the Southwest D.C. project.
