WashREIT had not launched a ground-up development since 2006, but now it has broken ground on one and has another in planning.

The REIT began construction recently on The Trove, a 401-unit addition to The Wellington apartments in Arlington, and it is preparing to add 550 units to the Riverside apartments in Alexandria, the Washington Business Journal reports.

The two projects, which WashREIT discussed on an earnings call in February, represent the REIT's new strategy of adding residential density to the surface parking lots of properties it acquires.

It bought the Riverside, a 1,222-unit apartment complex, in 2016 for $244.8M. Sitting near the Huntington Metro station at 5860 Cameron Run Terrace, the property is in the Fairfax County section of Alexandria. WashREIT is working with WDG Architecture to add five buildings to the property and has hearings with the Fairfax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors scheduled in October. The addition would bring the complex to at least 1,770 units, one of the largest in the region.

WashREIT acquired The Wellington, a 711-unit Columbia Pike apartment complex, for $167M in 2015. It recently broke ground on a three-building, 401-unit addition, dubbed The Trove, that is expected to deliver in 2019.