JBG Smith Looks To Sell Reston Office Building
JBG Smith is continuing its strategy of looking to sell office buildings despite the coronavirus pandemic slowing the investment sales market.
The REIT retained Colliers to market the office building at 12700 Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston, the brokerage firm tells Bisnow.
The 95K SF office building, branded as Reston Arboretum, sits just off the Dulles Toll Road and less than a quarter-mile from the Herndon Silver Line station, part of the rail line's second phase that is expected to open next year.
The building was constructed in 1999. The owner has designed a series of renovations that Colliers says a buyer could execute to add value to the building, such as upgrading the lobby and fitness center and adding an outdoor amenity space, food market and bike storage room.
Colliers is also highlighting the recent leasing activity that has occurred on the Dulles Toll Road corridor, including major deals with Microsoft and Walmart Labs. Plans have also been filed by Pulte Homes to build 40 townhouses next to the Reston Arboretum building, potentially adding a greater mix of uses to the area.
"The Reston Arboretum property is a compelling investment opportunity based on its boutique characteristics, its suburban location and proximity to both the Herndon Metrorail Station and the 15-acre Herndon Nature Preserve," Colliers Executive Vice President Bill Kaye wrote in an emailed statement to Bisnow. He is marketing the property along with David Gast and Kate Howarth.
JBG Smith has pursued a strategy of selling assets since early 2018, when it said it viewed D.C. as a seller's market with elevated pricing. It set a goal in 2018 to generate $700M through asset sales, which it accomplished. Many of those sales were stand-alone office buildings, including properties in Reston, K Street and Dupont Circle.
The REIT then set another goal to sell $200M in assets this year. But early in the coronavirus crisis, JBG Smith CEO Matt Kelly told investors he expects the REIT will shift to become a net buyer of assets in the coming years as it anticipated a correction in pricing.
In his Q2 letter to investors released Aug. 4, Kelly said the $200M sales target may be difficult to achieve because the pandemic has slowed the investment sales market, but he said JBG Smith is still looking to sell where it can.
"Although the market remained frozen for most of the second quarter, we recently resumed a number of asset marketing processes, and where we can continue to transact at or above [net asset value], or at pricing that is accretive relative to other uses of capital, we intend to do so," Kelly wrote in the letter.
