Developer JBG Smith will redevelop two Crystal City buildings as apartments and a hotel under Arlington County, Virginia’s new building conversions incentives program.
JBG Smith is the largest landlord in Crystal City and the broader National Landing area, with two dozen buildings, including new construction and several aging buildings that are in need of redevelopment.
Flagged for conversion are 2100 Crystal Drive, an 11-story, 250,000 square-foot building constructed in 1968 and most recently leased by Amazon for temporary offices during the construction of the first phase of its HQ2 campus. It will be redeveloped as a 330 room hotel.
Nearby, 2200 Crystal Drive, currently an 11-story, 315,000 square-foot office building also constructed in 1968, will be converted into a condo or apartment building with 200 units.
In November, Arlington County approved an Adaptive Reuse Amendment to its zoning ordinance, which dramatically speeds up the approval process for adaptive reuse projects and provides developers with incentives for such conversion projects.
JBG Smith did not disclose incentives the Crystal Drive projects will be eligible for, and it did not provide a timeline for when redevelopment of the buildings would begin.
Arlington County’s push to redevelop aging buildings is in response to rising office vacancy rates and falling values.
“This is about positioning Arlington for long-term economic resilience. By embracing adaptive reuse, we’re turning a challenge into an opportunity, creating spaces that work for today’s workforce and future generations,” said Ryan Touhill, director of Arlington Economic Development.
Arlington County’s commercial office market currently has more than 10.7 million square feet of vacant space and an oversupply of outdated office inventory.
In addition to its portfolio of office buildings in National Landing, JBG Smith also controls development rights to Potomac Yard, where the first phase of Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus opens in January.
About 75% of JBG Smith’s buildings and developable real estate are in the National Landing submarket, and 98% of the company’s 13.1 million square feet of residential, retail and office space is within walking distance of a Metro station.
The company currently has more than 9.3 million square feet of new projects in its pipeline, most of which are condo and apartment projects.
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