A piece of the 40-acre Scotts Run development that was approved for a high-rise apartment project has traded hands for the second time in five years.

Northmarq announced Friday it brokered the $18.5M sale of the 1.3-acre site, and a spokesperson for the brokerage told Bisnow the buyer was Falls Church-based Rushmark Properties.

The seller was LMC Scotts Run Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Quarterra, which rebranded in 2022 from Lennar Multifamily Communities.

LMC had first reached a deal to acquire the site in January 2020 from Cityline Partners, the master planner of the Scotts Run development. LMC then closed on that acquisition in 2021 after receiving approval to build a 25-story, 447-unit apartment building, and it said at the time it aimed to deliver that project in early 2024.

Quarterra and Rushmark didn't respond to requests for comment on the deal.

Northmarq Regional Managing Director Chris Doerr said the buyer was drawn to the high rent growth and home prices in Northern Virginia, which has led the D.C. region with more than $3B in multifamily sales this year.

“Northern Virginia’s stable market fundamentals continue to drive the Washington, D.C. region’s investment activity, exemplified by the Scott Run transaction,” Doerr said in a statement.

Doerr's Northmarq team that brokered the sale also included Will Harvey, Shack Stanwick, Ari Azarbarzin, Anthony Pino, Matt Straughan, Jack Brocato and Meg Carter. The team joined Northmarq in 2022 from Walker & Dunlop.

The 40-acre Scotts Run development sits near the McLean Metro Station and the Capital One headquarters. The site is ultimately planned for more than 6.5M SF of mixed-use development, and Cityline has been selling individual parcels to outside developers to construct buildings.

Next to the site Rushmark acquired, Skanska delivered the 28-story, 410-unit Heming apartment building in October 2023. In 2021, LodgeWorks Partners delivered the 178-room Archer Hotel.

The project had initially been planned to include 4M SF of offices, but none of those components have moved forward because there has been “very little activity” in the office market, Cityline Managing Partner Donna Shafer told Bisnow in March 2023. She said the firm was pivoting one of its planned office sites to hotel, and that dual-branded Hilton hotel project received approval in May.