Arlington Looks To Buy Vacant Columbia Pike Office Building For Redevelopment
The Arlington County board is considering a proposal to purchase a vacant office building owned by WMG Acquisitions, an affiliate of Illinois-based WMG Development.
The county would purchase the site at 3108 Columbia Pike for $7.55M, with plans to later add a library branch and affordable housing to the site, ARLnow first reported.
The lot is slightly smaller than an acre. The building, constructed in 1961, is located a block away from the Arlington Career Center on South Walter Reed Drive. The county is considering demolishing the structure and using the parcel as parking for the career center until it can be redeveloped.
Eventually, the site could be used to relocate a Columbia Pike branch library from its current spot on the first floor of the career center. The proposal also notes the site could be used for other county priorities, including affordable housing.
The county lists the appraised value of the building as $8M, and it says it has three floors with between 3K and 4K SF of office space each, in addition to a 2K SF mezzanine.
Proceeds for the purchase would come from an existing fund created for land acquisitions by the county and unallocated bond premium. Demolition is expected to cost $1.5M, which the county could allocate through its budgetary process for fiscal year 2023.
