MacFarlane Partners founder and managing principal Victor MacFarlane tells GlobeSt.com that the firm expects to invest $500,000 to $1 billion a year in the DC market, starting in 2007; MacFarlane plans to announce some $300 million to 400 million worth of projects in Southeast Washington by the end of the year.
Washington is one of a select few cities in which MacFarlane is making such high-dollar investments, a group that includes Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. "We are also expanding our activities a bit in the northwest, looking at Chicago for instance," MacFarlane says.MacFarlane has had exposure to the DC market before; it partners with Forest City nationally and in DC has fronted 25% of the capital for the development of Southeast Federal Center, a 44-acre annex of the former Washington Navy Yard. The $2-billion project, which hasn't begun construction yet, has been divided into 30 or so individual projects, MacFarlane explains.
The company submitted its RFP to the General Services Administration some two years ago; since then, MacFarlane has maintained an interest in the DC market. "We had looked here sporadically over that time, but previously our growth had been in the West Coast and New York. Now we've decided that DC is capable of providing a similar level of activity."
The company plans to invest both institutional funds as well as its own in DC. Because of its interest in the Southeast Federal Center, a 40-acre mixed-use project here, the company plans to make significant investments in the Baseball district. That area is already experiencing rapid development with the construction of several condos, mixed-use and office projects underway or in the planning stages.
MacFarlane says he expects to announce three mixed-use projects in the area by the end of the year. These will consist of residential, retail and office totaling some $300 million to $400 million. Right now these projects are in the early planning stage, but MacFarlane says that, depending on the density patterns, he expects the projects will cover between one million sf to two million sf.
Also, the company is eyeing developments in Prince George's County. "We are tracking along a lot of metro station lines for mixed-use projects," MacFarlane says. "We are working with some emerging developers to facilitate their growth."
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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.
