Monday, February 14, 2011

Development Happening Monumental Realty

Monumental Realty announces on their web page Liberty View At Springfield Metro 6900 Beulah Street Springfield VA 4 buildings totaling 750,000 SF. Additional Information
Monument Realty closes wave of new deals
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse

Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 2:53pm EST
Click here to find out more!
Click here to find out more!

* Sarah Krouse
* Reporter
* Email: skrouse@bizjournals.com

District-based Monument Realty, hard hit by the 2008 bankruptcy of its equity partner Lehman Brothers Holding Inc., is working on five new real estate deals as it looks to set a new course for itself in the next real estate cycle.

The company:

• Assembled 26 single-family homes and lots in Springfield in 2009 to make way for a $260 million, five-building office development, Liberty View at Springfield Metro.

Monument is in the site plan approval process with Fairfax County, but plans to build the first 200,000-square-foot phase once it gets a final OK. Monument co-founder Michael Darby said the company expects to start construction speculatively, saying the company hopes to provide space for contractors wanting to be near Fort Belvoir as part of the Base Realignment and Closure moves.

The Davis, Carter Scott-designed buildings will rise to eight stories and deliver 875,000 square feet.

• Closed on a deal for a build-to-suit office complex for Boeing Co. north of Crystal City. Monument submitted a site plan to Arlington County Jan. 26 for a 419,000-square-foot development on 4.7 acres along Old Jefferson Davis Highway between Sixth Street and 10th Street South. The property will host two five and six-story office buildings connected by a lobby and atrium.

Monument will break ground on the project in the fourth quarter of 2011.

• Inked a lease with the Federal Aviation Administration for 50,000 square feet at 55 M St. SE, the building it built with Lehman just north of Nationals Park.

• Bought the 237,000-square-foot Class B office building at 2055 L St. NW, known as the Verizon Building, with partner Angelo, Gordon & Co. for $12.8 million. The partners plan to renovate the building into a Class A or A-minus space.

• Closed on the purchase of a loan secured by 627-631 H St. NW in July and is planning an 80,000-square-foot office and retail project on the Chinatown site. Monument is still looking for an investment partner on that deal, but hopes to break ground by the end of the third quarter.

Separately, Monument and Douglas Development are each pursuing the boarded-up building next door at the corner of Seventh and H streets NW, which is currently in bankruptcy court. Developer Yeni Wong bought that property in 2005, but defaulted on the note later that year. Douglas Development purchased the defaulted note from Capmark Finance Inc. last September and served Wong a notice of foreclosure. Douglas' was going to make a play for it at auction but that plan was thwarted when Wong's company filed for bankruptcy protection Nov. 16.

For more on this story, see the Jan. 28-Feb. 3 print edition of the Washington Business Journa

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