The federal government has purchased the 44-acre office campus at 7700 Arlington Blvd. in Falls Church, Va., for $285 million, taking full ownership of a property it has leased for 15 years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command acquired the site from its longtime owner, GBA Associates. Since 2011, the complex has served as the Defense Health Headquarters, which oversees health care operations for military and uniformed services.

The headquarters was established under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process to consolidate military medical operations into fewer locations. The General Services Association (GSA) subsequently signed a 15-year lease for the site, which took effect in December 2011 following extensive renovations. With that agreement set to expire in December 2026, switching from tenant to owner is expected to save the government “several million dollars per year.”

The campus includes three Class B office buildings constructed between 1954 and 1984 totaling roughly 686,000 square feet, along with a separate parcel providing 2,000 parking spaces. Defense contractor Raytheon occupied the site before military health agencies moved in. A 2018 proposal aimed to add a 179,200-square-foot building and extra parking, but the project never materialized.

The deal fits into a broader trend of federal agencies purchasing their long-term homes. To that end, the CIA paid $247 million last year for an office it occupied in Chantilly, Va. In 2023, the government also bought Liberty Crossing I and II in McLean, Va., for $531 million, while the GSA acquired the Department of Transportation headquarters near the Washington Navy Yard for $760 million shortly before the pandemic.

These acquisitions come as office assets continue to trade throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area. Nearly $2.4 billion in office properties changed hands during the first eight months of the year, averaging $168 per square foot, according to Yardi Research data. The Falls Church, Va., transaction works out to roughly $415 per square foot. However, because that figure incorporates 44 acres of land and a standalone parking lot, it isn’t directly comparable to a standard office investment sale.