French International School Buys 11-Acre Rockville Pike Site For New Campus

Rochambeau, the Montgomery County-based French International School, plans to consolidate several of its operations on a new site along Rockville Pike.

The school is under contract to acquire an 11.2-acre site at 9650 Rockville Pike from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The FASEB building on the site totals 165K SF. 

Edge Commercial Real Estate's Marc Balamaci and Joshua Katz assisted Rochambeau in its search, during which it evaluated at least six Montgomery County sites. JLL's Bernie McCarthy represented the seller. 

The new campus will house Rochambeau's preschool, elementary school and administrative functions and is expected to open during the summer of 2020. The French International School's main campus sits less than a mile away, at 9600 Forest Road in Bethesda. 

Upon buying the facility for the consolidation, Rochambeau is offering for sale the buildings where it currently houses those functions. The largest of those properties is a 2.3-acre site at 7108 Bradley Blvd. in Bethesda, with a 13,400 SF building. The school is also marketing two sites totaling 1.5 acres at 9300 and 9320 Old Georgetown Road, which contain a 2,900 SF building and a 5,300 SF building. Edge is marketing the properties on behalf of the school.

“With the acquisition of the FASEB property, we are meeting two of our strategic objectives — first to consolidate our campuses on two sites, and second, to support the future growth of our enrollment," Rochambeau Chief Operating Officer Hélène Fabre said in a release. 

CORRECTION, NOV. 14, 3:30 P.M. EST: Rochambeau is under contract to buy the site but the acquisition has not yet closed, as a previous version of this story implied. The story has been updated.