In the Media
Partner Brought in for $500M Mixed-Use Development in Northern Virginia
November 1, 2006 CPN
Real estate development and property management company Kettler has revealed that it will establish a joint venture with Cypress Equities for the development of The Village at Leesburg, an upscale mixed-use project in Leesburg, Va. The sprawling 150-acre property, located in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, will cost an estimated $500 million to complete.
Kettler has been doing the legwork to pave the way for the development of The Village at Leesburg for some time. The town council gave the final go-ahead for the project one year ago, and Kettler won approval for the rezoning of the property in May.
The Village at Leesburg will be comprised of a number of components. One will be the Village Center, which will offer 464,000 square feet of retail space and 200,000 square feet of office space. The remainder of the project will consist of 350 residential condominiums and apartments, a 300-unit active adult community, and a 300,000 square-foot office and hotel building with a conference center, all of which will be developed by Vienna, Va.-based Kettler. Kettler will also oversee the creation of the office segment of the Village Center, while Dallas-headquartered Cypress Equities will develop the retail space.
The retail vacancy rate in the Leesburg/Route 7 Corridor is 8.7 percent, as per a third quarter report by real estate services firm GVA Advantis. And Cushman & Wakefield Inc. reports that Northern Virginia's 2005 overall average vacancy rate for grocery-anchored properties---The Village at Leesburg will be anchored by a 140,000 square-foot Wegmans--was a low 2.8 percent. Real estate services firms KLNB and CB Richard Ellis have been tapped to handle the retail and office leasing, respectively.
Speaking to CPN, Clare Miller, a senior consultant with Kettler representative Weber Shandwick said, "Base Realignment and Closure is going to change that whole area." BRAC-enforced restructuring of military bases will bring 2,300 personnel to Army base Fort Belvoir, located less than an hour from Leesburg, over the next five years. "This is such a vibrant area; not just Leesburg but the whole Washington Metro region," Miller said of the anticipated demand for the offerings at The Village at Leesburg. Kettler and Cypress plan to begin site work and construction in the spring of next year.
Kettler, formerly KSI Services Inc., is a major proponent of mixed-use projects in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and has developed over five million square feet of commercial space and in excess of 50,000 residences. Cypress is the acquisition and development arm of The Staubach Co., a global real estate advisory firm that carried out transactions totaling $26 billion and 835 million square feet during the last fiscal year.