They are 1005 First St., the 1.6-acre site where the Greyhound bus station is now located; and 3.1-acre 1345 New York Ave., which is currently leased to DC Public Schools. The New York Ave. site is now considered surplus and will be sold outright. Greyhound will leaseback the First Street site a yet-to-be determined period of time. Once its lease is up, the site will likely be redeveloped into a high-rise office and/or residential redeveloped.

Mallus says the New York Ave. is a natural retail site. It is located close to the landmark Hecht's multibuilding warehouse center downtown, which Patriot Equities plans to redevelop into a mixed-use project called Patriot Yards that could either emphasis retail or office/flex and industrial use. Patriot acquired the 775,000-sf warehouse from Macy's in Dec. 2007. "I am looking for these two properties to set a record price in the submarket," Mallus says.

Liz Price, president of the NoMa BID, agrees Greyhound is currently sitting on valuable real estate in NoMa. "These are among the last development sites in the neighborhood," she tells GlobeSt.com. Another option for developers, she adds, would be One NoMA Station, a 6.9-acre site located north of the US Capitol and Union Station that can accommodate up to 2.6 million sf of total density.