A five-building Northern Virginia office portfolio has traded hands in a sign of investor appetite for assets positioned to benefit from a surge in defense spending.

The Meridian Group, in partnership with Harrison Street Asset Management and HLM Associates, purchased five office buildings in Chantilly totaling 431K SF, the companies told Bisnow.

They didn't disclose the sale price, and it hasn't yet appeared in property records, but a source familiar with the deal told Bisnow the sale price was around $67M.

The properties — 4800 and 4840 Westfields Blvd. and 14150, 14151 and 14155 Newbrook Drive — sit in the Westfields Center office park just off Route 28, about 7 miles south of Dulles International Airport and in a hotbed of intelligence and defense contracting firms.

The parties didn't disclose the seller, but deed records show the prior owner of those properties was an affiliate of The RMR Group, a Massachusetts-based, nationwide asset manager that lists the property on its website.

For The Meridian Group, the acquisition represents an opening play in a new strategy to target mission-critical facilities serving the U.S. defense and intelligence sectors.

"Westfields is an ideal first investment for the platform we have been building," TMG Chief Investment Officer Gary Block said in a statement. "Our goal is to become a landlord of choice for both traditional government contractors and the growing universe of nontraditional defense and technology companies in the markets we serve."

Northern Virginia has long been a top hub for the defense sector due to the presence of the Pentagon and other agency headquarters. The CIA bought an office building less than 5 miles away last year for $247M, the Washington Business Journal reported.

The sector has received a major boost from increased defense spending in President Donald Trump's second term. It could receive even more if Congress approves the Pentagon's $1.5T budget request.

Newmark Executive Managing Director James Cassidy, whose team brokered the Meridian sale, said the Chantilly area benefits from significant demand in the defense sector but hasn't experienced much office investment sales volume. He said this deal represented a "watershed transaction" for the submarket.

"Not much had traded that was going to stay office in Northern Virginia. Most had been distressed," he said. "This was one of the first movers and is indicative of how healthy the Westfields submarket is."

The Route 28 South submarket, which includes the Westfields Center park, had a 13.6% vacancy rate last quarter across its 11M SF of office inventory, according to CBRE. That was well below the Northern Virginia average of 21.3%.