Breaking: StonebridgeCarras' Next Big Project: 950k SF On Eisenhower Avenue
As if the Eisenhower Avenue pipeline wasn't robust enough, StonebridgeCarras is throwing its hat into the ring with a $400M, 950k SF, retail-heavy project at Hoffman Town Center, Bisnow has learned.
Stonebridge put Blocks 4 and 5 of the town center—above, formerly a parking lot for the AMC movie theater next door—under contract with the Hoffman family a few months ago, and plans to build a 200k SF grocery-anchored retail and parking podium (rendered below) with 750k SF of residential on top.
Principal Doug Firstenberg says his firm's Oakville Triangle project—1.5M SF near the future Potomac Yard Metro Station—gave him confidence that Alexandria was a place to keep building.
"I’m ashamed of myself for not getting back to Alexandria for 20 years before Oakville," Doug told Bisnow this morning. "We understand the entitlement process now. We think it’s a great place, and we like Metro. Potomac Yard's getting it, and this one’s already got Metro. Shame on us for taking so long to get there."
Twenty years ago, StonebridgeCarras developed a site for office buildings in Carlyle nearby. Now that the US Patent and Trade Office anchors the employment in the area—soon to be joined by the National Science Foundation—Doug has come full circle in adding major retail and residential to the mix.
The AMC movie theater is a 22-screen multiplex, but Doug says there's no other anchor for the area, which is both Metro-adjacent and right off the Capital Beltway. StonebridgeCarras, which also successfully developed the Harris Teeter-anchored Constitution Square in NoMa, plans to sign a major grocery anchor to go alongside a health club and restaurant on the second floor of the retail podium.
Doug says he's working with Alexandria to get the requisite entitlements for the development now, and hopes to have those secure by next year for a 2019 construction start and 2021 delivery. In the meantime, he'll be watching the other projects along the red-hot Eisenhower Avenue corridor as they lease up their apartments before deciding on what mix of residential to put in there.
"We've got the retail hub and we'll create a town center, which I think will become the heart of the whole area," Doug says. "So we're a little less concerned [about residential demand]. But we'll be watching the other projects."
The mass of apartments coming is nothing to write off: Paradigm Development just delivered 505 units, JM Zell's 34-story skyscraper will be all residential and Rushmark Properties is building 540 units in two buildings a mile away. StonebridgeCarras' project will deliver after all of those apartments, and Doug says a mix of apartments, condos and senior housing will be considered, although nothing is finalized.
Doug will be speaking at Bisnow's State of Arlington and Alexandria event this week, and now has more than 2M SF of future development to discuss.
