ALEXANDRIA, VA–Morgan Properties has acquired the Mark Center portfolio for $509 million from the former JBG Cos., giving the King of Prussia, Pa.-based company a sizeable footprint in the Northern Virginia market.
Up until this deal the acquirer of class B multifamily assets has focused on the Maryland-DC Corridor, snapping up assets and portfolios over the years until it reached its current 21,500 units.
The Mark Center is considered one of the largest institutionally-maintained contiguous portfolios in the country, consisting of 2,664 apartment units and a 63,320-square-foot retail center — The Shops at Mark Center — situated over 150 acres inside the Beltway. It is located in the Seminary Road submarket, close to Fort Belvoir, The Pentagon, US Patent and Trademark Office, the Department of Defense's Mark Center campus and the Inova Alexandria Hospital. CBRE represented the seller on the disposition.
The Mark Center acquisition is a major milestone for Morgan Properties, as it marks the company's second largest transaction in the company's history, according to Jonathan Morgan, president of Morgan Properties JV Management.
He added that the company is on track to acquire over $1 billion of real estate for this year.
The Apartments at Mark Center consist of six adjacent garden-style apartment communities: Hillwood, Stroneridge, Meadow Creek, Lynbrook, Brookdale, and Willow Run. Morgan Properties plans to consolidate the six assets into four large apartment communities as part of a $35 million repositioning. Some 97% of the units are original, Morgan tells GlobeSt.com. “This is a big value add story.”
JBG Cos. received approval from the City of Alexandria in 2012 to redevelop the existing apartment communities and retail center into a mixed-use Town Center. The redevelopment plan would maximize the allowable density from 2.5 million square feet to 6.4 million square feet. Morgan Properties has obtained that right through acquisition.
“The optionality is quite attractive,” Morgan says. “We have no immediate plans to move forward with it but we are considering all options.”
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
