A Class-B office building in McLean has reached 95% occupancy, a sign that the Northern Virginia market may finally be picking back up.
Bethesda-based Kenwood Management acquired McLean Plaza, located at 6862 Elm St., last year for roughly $23M, property records show. In the last seven months, it has filled nearly 20K SF of vacancy across seven new leases, brokerage firm Newmark announced Tuesday.
Newmark Executive Managing Director Larry FitzGerald and Director Cole Spalding are leasing the building for Kenwood. They secured deals with a range of medical, real estate and finance firms, with the largest, Anxiety Institute LLC, signing for just over 7K SF.
“The velocity and volume of leasing we’ve seen at McLean Plaza in just under a year is a testament to the strong, nimble and responsive ownership team managing this property,” Spalding said in a statement Thursday. “Despite a complex and rapidly evolving office leasing environment, we have successfully leased this asset to near total occupancy — and interest for the remaining five percent of space remains notably strong.”
The 104K SF, eight-story building, located in downtown McLean, was developed in 1981 and renovated in 2011, Kenwood said in a release when it acquired the property. Major tenants at the building include MedStar and Virginia Hospital Center.
Leasing activity in Northern Virginia has started to pick up this year, with overall absorption turning positive in the third quarter, according to research from Newmark. But the Class-B market remains soft with year-to-date net absorption at surpassing negative 455K SF as tenants increasingly look to relocate to newer buildings amid changing dynamics in the workplace.
Contact Jacob Wallace at jacob.wallace@bisnow.com