Property Group Partners Hires New D.C. Region Head From Republic Properties
Property Group Partners has a host of D.C. office space to lease up at its Capitol Crossing and Station Place properties, and it is bringing on a new executive to lead those efforts.
The New York-based firm hired George Cantrell from Republic Properties to serve as executive vice president and head of the D.C. region, Bisnow has learned.
Cantrell tells Bisnow that he chose to move to PGP because it gives him the opportunity to add value by helping lease up Capitol Crossing, the 2.2M SF megaproject being built on a deck atop I-395. The firm also owns the three-building Station Place project, which is preparing to lose the Securities and Exchange Commission as an anchor tenant, and it owns the 245K SF office building at 801 17th St. NW.
"If there was nothing else other than Capitol Crossing, it would still be a great opportunity," Cantrell said. "This is just one of those structural wonders of the world. To have built over the road and built it, it’s just an amazing accomplishment, and there aren’t many of those kinds of projects in D.C."
The development still has hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space available for lease. PGP in 2018 delivered the 414K SF office building at 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, and in 2019 it delivered the 559K SF building at 250 Massachusetts Ave. NW.
The 250 Mass building is still fully vacant, but Cantrell said it has deals in the works that could close soon. The 200 Mass building is around 75% leased.
The tenants at 200 Mass include the American Petroleum Institute, which signed on in 2017 for 75K SF, and WeWork, which inked a 111K SF deal in May 2019 and has since opened the coworking space. In January, T. Rowe Price signed on for 20K SF. The development team has also signed multiple restaurant tenants and a Japanese food hall.
The developer in July 2018 switched the Capitol Crossing office leasing team from Cushman & Wakefield to JLL, and the following month, PGP President Jeffrey Sussman told Bisnow the leasing had been slower than he expected and the project "needed new blood."
Cantrell's hiring comes after three top D.C. executives left PGP over the last three years. Robert Braunohler, who oversaw the D.C. region for the firm, retired in January 2019. Sean Cahill, who oversaw the Capitol Crossing project for PGP, resigned in October 2019 and six months later joined the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. David Happ, who served as president of PGP and was based in D.C., left the company earlier this year, the Washington Business Journal reported in August.
At Republic Properties, Cantrell oversaw leasing and management for the firm with several D.C. office properties. He said that expertise will benefit PGP in its leasing efforts.
"I think I bring some energy and some market insights that are beneficial," Cantrell said. "Our focus is really to lease and develop Capitol Crossing, but also lease all of our assets in New York and D.C. ... The goal is do some leasing, be proactive, meet the market and outplay the market a little bit."
The next phases of the Capitol Crossing project could be moving forward soon. The developer received approval from the Zoning Commission last month to build a pair of 12-story buildings with 166 apartments, 221 hotel rooms and 21K SF of retail. Cantrell said he thinks this mix of uses will help generate momentum for the office component.
"The city has proven that’s the way to go," he said. "Other developments in the city have done well with that same mix, and we expect to be no different. We’re very excited to move forward with the next phase of development. We’re putting a lot of time and effort into those as well."
PGP is also facing another major office vacancy at Station Place, as the SEC signed a 1.2M SF lease in September to relocate to a new development at 60 New York Ave. NE. PGP unsuccessfully protested the search for new SEC headquarters prior to the selection. Cantrell declined to comment on the selection or on PGP's plans for Station Place.
