Fannie Mae Leases 850 KSF in Suburban DC

By Barbra Murray

Reston Gateway, Reston, Va.

Boston Properties Inc. has landed an anchor tenant for its Reston Gateway development in suburban Washington, D.C. The REIT just signed Fannie Mae to an 850,000-square-foot lease at the mixed-use project in Reston, Va., which will feature 1 million square feet of premier office space.

Reston Gateway, which will offer tenants the added benefit of sitting just across from the upcoming Reston Town Center Metro Station on the Silver Line of the Metro, will sprout up on a site that Boston Properties has been holding onto for quite some time; the REIT purchased the land in 1998. Ultimately, the 30-acre Duda Paine Architects-designed development will feature 4 million square feet, including approximately 1.2 million square feet of premier office space; 1.5 million square feet of residential units; and 700,000 square feet of retail offerings and hotel guestrooms. And with its location within the 450-acre mixed-use Reston Town Center district, Reston Gateway will be a veritable city within a city.

“Reston Town Center, a dynamic, 24-7, mixed-use environment, remains the ideal place to recruit, retain, and motivate world-class talent,” Peter Otteni, senior vice president with Boston Properties, said in a prepared statement.

Government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae will set up shop in its new digs at Reston Gateway in 2022. Assuming Boston Properties secures the requisite approvals for Reston Gateway, the REIT will commence construction of the project in the second half of 2018.

Sunnier skies in NoVa

If there’s any question of whether Northern Virginia’s office market is on the upswing, a host of numbers can serve as evidence. Year-end net absorption in 2017 reached 1.2 million square feet, marking a whopping 721.1 percent increase from 2016, per a report by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Additionally, overall leasing activity in 2017 recorded a year-over-year increase of 24.6 percent.

“NoVa continues to be a desirable destination for both large relocations and smaller tenants, particularly as new product is slated to come online,” according to the Cushman & Wakefield report. “[The market] shows no signs of slowing down, particularly with a significant amount of large requirements hitting the Silver Line Corridor submarkets in the 2018-2020 timeframe, and a dearth of quality existing options.”

Boston Properties’ numbers in Northern Virginia are even more impressive. The REIT’s 5.6 million-square-foot portfolio in the area was 95 percent occupied, according to its 2016 investor conference presentation.

 Image courtesy of Duda Paine Architects