Neustar Commits to Entire 100,000-SF Office Building in Suburban D.C.

March 9, 2010
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user ninahale

Vacant since its completion in late 2007, the 92,000-square-foot Ridgetop III office building in Sterling, Va., is empty no more. Developer and owner Bavar Properties Group has orchestrated a lease agreement with Neustar Inc. for the clearinghouse services provider to occupy Ridgetop III in its entirety.

Timing is everything. “Ridgetop III delivered as both the economy and the markets were slowing,” Bavar Vice President Robert Bavar told CPE. Located 25 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., Ridgetop III carries the address off 21575 Ridgetop Circle and sits within the Loudoun Tech Center. The 10-year lease facilitates an expansion for Neustar, which occupies 45,000 square feet of office space at Ridgetop I.

With the company’s agreement in place, Bavar’s three-building Ridgetop complex is now leased to maximum capacity. “The property is near Washington Dulles International Airport and next to the Dulles Town Center regional mall, so there is a huge amenities base there and amenities within the park,” Bavar noted.

Metropolitan Washington, D.C., has federal government offices to thank for buoying net absorption in the office market, according to a report by real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis, but a 100-percent occupancy rate is still no small achievement, particularly when federal government tenants are not involved. The area recorded an average direct vacancy rate of 13.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

However, a turnaround may be in the making. “In general, we’re seeing an increase in tenant activity,” Bavar said. “A lot of companies are realizing that the world is not coming to an end, and the economy is pulling out of the doldrums and starting to recover.”

Neustar will begin occupying its space at Ridgetop III sometime around the end of the year.