EXCLUSIVE: Koch-Backed Groups Backfilling Huge Chunk Of NSF’s Former Office Complex
A group of nonprofits founded and supported in part by billionaire Charles Koch are moving to a combined 185K SF in the Ballston Exchange office complex owned by Jamestown, sources confirmed to Bisnow.
Stand Together, Americans for Prosperity and the Charles Koch Institute, in addition to affiliated organizations, plan to occupy the space in 2023, a source familiar with the deal said.
The organizations are currently spread across multiple offices at 1310 and 1320 North Courthouse Road in Arlington's Courthouse neighborhood. The former building is owned by AEW Capital Management and managed by MRP Realty, while the latter is owned by MetLife Investment Management.
The deal is among the 13 largest office leases signed in the D.C. area this year, and it appears to be the largest in Arlington, according to CBRE research provided to Bisnow.
The lease also represents one of the largest deals so far for Ballston Exchange, formerly known as Stafford Place, which Jamestown purchased in 2015. It launched a major repositioning effort in 2017 after the National Science Foundation left for new space in Alexandria.
Ballston Exchange contains over 750K SF of office space and retail at 4201 and 4121 Wilson Blvd. Jamestown finished its renovations of the buildings in 2019, attaining LEED Silver certification. The project sits across the street from the Ballston Quarter redevelopment that Brookfield delivered in 2019.
The renovations were done with sustainability and wellness in mind, Jamestown Senior Vice President for the Mid-Atlantic Mark Witschorik told Bisnow in January. That included using sustainable building materials and installing systems to reduce water and electricity usage.
Witschorik also said he wanted the building to take advantage of the highly educated workforce in Arlington's Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor.
Other tenants at the property include Booz Allen Hamilton, CENTRA Technology and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Industrious also signed a 10-year lease in 2018 to operate a 25K SF coworking space at Ballston Exchange.
