Velocis, Altus Buy 500 KSF DC-Area Office Campus

By Barbra Murray

Greensboro Park

Velocis has expanded its footprint in suburban Washington, D.C., with the acquisition of Greensboro Park, an approximately 500,000-square-foot office campus in Tysons, Va. The private equity real estate manager partnered with Altus Realty on the purchase of the two-tower property from Beacon Capital. At the time of sale, the complex was 83 percent leased.

Occupying seven acres in the coveted The Hill micro-market roughly 15 miles outside Washington, D.C., Greensboro Park sits within walking distance of a Metro station and the 800,000-square-foot Tysons Galleria regional shopping mall. The complex consists of the 243,500-square-foot building at 8180 Greensboro Drive, which also includes 2,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, and the 259,400-square-foot structure at 8200 Greensboro Drive. Developed in the 1980s, Greensboro Park underwent a renovation in 2015. 

“Greensboro Park represented a rare chance to acquire two assets that checked most of our boxes: solid in-place income, a bit of vacant space, rents that have room to increase within our competitive subset, and great walkability,” Paul Smith, principal with Velocis, told Commercial Property Executive. Greensboro Park offers additional upside potential, as the property has been approved for the development of two high-rises that could accommodate up to 520 multifamily units.

Velocis and Altus have tapped commercial real estate services firm JLL to manage the property.

Northern Virginia expansion

Greensboro Park marks Velocis’ fourth office purchase in Northern Virginia. In 2015, the company acquired Shirlington Tower in Arlington, a 233,500-square-foot office asset, as well as the two-building, 180,000-square-foot Loudon Gateway II & III in Sterling. Greenberg enhanced its presence in the area again last year, snapping up the 191,400-square-foot property at 3120 Fairview Park in Falls Church. “The Northern Virginia market is very efficient and competitive, and we have been very careful to build our portfolio there over the past three years,” Smith noted.

Tysons has been of particular interest to the company. “We have reviewed a number of quality opportunities in Tysons over the past few years as that submarket has begun to mature into a true live-work-play environment,” he added. “On most of those assets, pricing was very aggressive, and the deals were priced to core levels.”

The parties involved in the Greensboro Park transaction are remaining mum on the sale price. Beacon Capital, which was represented in the transaction by commercial real estate services firm CBRE, had owned the asset since acquiring it from Lehman Brothers in 2010 for approximately $125.3 million.

Image courtesy of Velocis