Pembroke has purchased a new 267-unit apartment building in Northern Virginia as its first residential property in the United States and second globally.
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The Boston-based company announced Monday it acquired the Fitzroy at 3275 Washington Blvd. in Arlington, and property records show it paid $158.3M. Berkadia’s Brian Crivella, Yalda Ghamarian and Bill Gribbin facilitated the sale.
It comes as Pembroke, which is primarily invested in office properties, including three in downtown D.C., is just starting to branch out into multifamily, an effort it expects to continue in 2025.
“Supply is not keeping up with demand for high quality residential properties in coveted neighborhoods in the world’s most sophisticated cities,” Pembroke Senior Vice President and Head of Investments Jack Clark said in the company’s release.
“Targeting investment in multifamily and BTR properties in the cities where our mixed-use and office buildings are located allows Pembroke to leverage this opportunity and our team’s local expertise,” he added, saying 2025 will be a “transformative year” for the company as it continues to seek out residential opportunities.
Trammell Crow Residential and Shooshan Co. delivered the nine-story Fitzroy in fall 2023 as the third and final building of its Red Top Cab redevelopment project — a three-property multifamily development spanning 3.4 acres at the site of the former Red Top Cab headquarters and dispatch center in Clarendon.
The other two buildings, totaling 333 units, were completed in 2021 and sold to Lincoln Property Co. in July of that year for $192M, property records show. The project was one of a series of new developments in Clarendon and Courthouse, the two neighborhoods in the center of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.
Multifamily investment sales in Northern Virginia have far outweighed those of its regional neighbors over the last few years. As the capital markets slowed down amid high interest rates and election uncertainty, Northern Virginia saw a surge in acquisition activity.
As of mid-November, the submarket had seen $3.6B in multifamily sales for 2024, more than double its volume in 2023. Meanwhile, suburban Maryland was sitting at $1.1B and D.C. at $936M in sales.
At the same time, Northern Virginia also recorded 4.5% rent growth year-over-year at the end of Q3, compared to 1.9% in the District and 2% in suburban Maryland.
Pembroke has a portfolio of 8.9M SF — primarily office properties — across 13 markets in the U.S., the Asia-Pacific and Europe. It owns three downtown D.C. office buildings at 1000 Vermont Ave. NW, 1201 New York Ave. NW and 1801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
The firm in January 2024 announced its first residential acquisition: a 195-unit apartment building in London’s Nine Elm neighborhood called The Lark.
