Real estate developer Young Group intends to convert a former office building to self-storage in the Tysons Corner area of McLean, Va. The company recently acquired the vacant, 80,000-square-foot building at 1764 Old Meadow Lane from AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust for $6.5 million. Though the site had been rezoned for office or residential uses, the developer determined self-storage was a better use for the area, according to the source. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
Built in 1977, the structure was approved to house up to 225,000 square feet of office space or 275 residential units. "There are millions of square feet of office available right on Silver Line stations. Meanwhile, there are literally millions of square feet of class-C space like this that are empty," principal Robert Young told the source. "You're not going to be able to compete in the market for good tenants."
Though Young indicated the site could house apartments in the future, the Tysons area already has experienced an uptick in multi-family housing. "Everybody pretty much knows the [multi-family] market is somewhere between difficult and impossible to finance, even if you wanted to do it, which we don't," Young said.
Architect Butz Wilbern has been retained to design the self-storage project.
"Being in the heart of Tysons with excellent exposure on the Beltway, and [with] the average rents for self-storage in Tysons relatively high, we think it will be a solid investment for the long term," Young said.
Based in Falls Church, Va., Young Group has been a real estate developer in Northern Virginia for more than 25 years. Though its focus is on local commercial and residential projects, it also has participated in projects in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to its website.
Source:
Bisnow, Empty Tysons Office Building, Approved for Apartments, to Be Converted Into Self-Storage Instead
