This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet: Union Station Overhaul Lands Federal Grant
Union Station’s planned $8.8B expansion and renovation received new funding from the federal government.
The public transit hub for the nation’s capital was awarded up to $24M through a new batch of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It is one of 19 projects along the Northeast Corridor to receive the funds, which total nearly $1.5B, the Department of Transportation announced Friday.
“With the nearly $1.5 billion in funding we’re announcing today, we’re upgrading our rail infrastructure to support our economy and make service safer, faster, and more reliable for hundreds of thousands of passengers who depend on this route,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release.
The project is planned to preserve Union Station's historic main hall but completely overhaul how the majority of the station looks and functions. That includes adding a new 19-track rail terminal, creating four new concourses with new retail, reducing the number of garage parking spaces by 77%, building out a 39-slip bus facility and delivering a pedestrian throughway under the H Street Bridge. It is projected to take 13 years to complete.
“Union Station’s expansion is a once-in-century investment,” said Charles Allen, a D.C. Council member who also chairs the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' Board of Directors. “It is as important to our region as our airports. This is a great example of federal partnership and leadership that will be necessary to move this game-changing project forward.”
The new funding builds on $16.4B in grants announced in 2023 for projects along the Northeast Corridor. In addition to funding for the Union Station project, the nearly $1.5B this round will go to structural replacements and improving signal systems, operating speeds and safety.
SALES
PRP Real Estate Investment Management sold a 40-acre Manassas site planned for a 1.1M SF data center campus. Iron Mountain paid $113.5M for Manassas Point, which PRP had acquired through three transactions between 2022 and 2023. PRP rezoned the parcels into one, developed a site plan and secured an agreement for 300 megawatts of power capacity.
LEASES
EagleBank is relocating its Bethesda headquarters office and its Rockville office into a new headquarters in downtown Bethesda. The bank is leasing 65K SF at 7500 Old Georgetown Road, the former Clark Building. EagleBank plans to occupy the fourth, fifth and 15th floors and put its name on the building. The move is expected to occur next year. In-Rel Properties purchased the 16-story tower from Stonebridge and Rockwood Capital in January for 22% of its 2019 sale price.
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Two new restaurants are coming to Potomac Place shopping center in Potomac, Maryland. Duke’s Grocery, a British pub concept that has four D.C. locations, is opening outside the District for the first time and is poised to take over the center’s Lock72 space. Cava Mezze Group is also unveiling a new concept drawing inspiration from the Italian coastline in the former Renato’s space.
The 79K SF center has been operating since the 1960s and is owned by Zuckerman Gravely. JLL’s Andy Corno represented the owner, CBRE’s Kelly Silverman represented Cava Mezze Group, and Miller Walker’s Alex Walker represented Duke’s Grocery.
PERSONNEL
David Iannucci, who has led the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp. for the last six years, is retiring. PGCEDC announced the retirement this week, and the Washington Business Journal reported that his retirement goes into effect at the end of the year.
Iannucci has served in economic development and public service for more than four decades. He was tapped to lead the county’s economic development corporation at the end of 2018. During his time there, he led the implementation of the $50M Economic Development Incentive Fund, which leveraged more than $1.1B in private sector investments, according to a news release.
He served as executive director of the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development between 2003 and 2010 before taking a role with Prince George’s County as assistant deputy chief administrative officer for economic development and public infrastructure. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Maryland.
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Miles & Stockbridge is absorbing real estate finance law firm Krooth & Altman, bringing on 30 lawyers and the entire staff of the local law firm. The move will take Miles & Stockbridge’s employee count to 200. The deal is set to close at the end of the year, the firm announced this week.
With the merger, Miles & Stockbridge plans to create the Krooth & Altman GSE and HUD team, which will specialize in financings involving loans originated through programs of the government-sponsored enterprises and federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The attorneys from Krooth & Altman will continue to practice in their office at 1850 M St. NW. Miles & Stockbridge is an Am Law 200 firm with a D.C. office at 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
THIS AND THAT
The owner of a 312-unit apartment building a block away from Nationals Park plans to convert the building's second floor from retail to residential. Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners filed an application with the D.C. Zoning Commission to turn 20K SF of retail into 16 residential units. The space was home to adult mini-golf venue Swingers for seven months before it closed last October, and Jair Lynch told the Zoning Commission it had difficulty leasing the space to another retail tenant.
