Construction Begins on 3 More Ashburn Crossing Buildings
St. John Properties held a groundbreaking ceremony today for Phase II of its Ashburn Crossing property, a 61-acre mixed-use business center located at the intersection of Gloucester Parkway and Loudoun County Parkway.
The company is developing three more R&D/office/flex buildings comprising more than 135,000 square feet of space, as well as a retail pad site.
“Every type of business is located within Ashburn Crossing from a dance studio to a brewery to professional services companies, and this type of diversity is what makes the Loudoun County economy thrive,” County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At-Large) said during the Sept. 9 event. “What St. John Properties has done here and what they are doing today is incredible and we fully support them.”
The property is located at the epicenter of Loudoun’s data center market and is one of the last undeveloped parcels in the area with the connectivity, power, water, and zoning requirements for data centers.While the company received numerous offers from data center developers, St. John’s Regional Partner Matt Holbrook said the company chose to continue with the construction of its prototypical R&D/office/flex buildings.
“It seems counterintuitive to many that we would build our speculative flex buildings on such hyper-priced data center land. But we aren’t looking to cash out of Loudoun,” he said. “Instead, we are looking to invest more and for the long-term. We have been part of the Northern Virginia community for over 20 years, and we want to continue to grow our presence, one building at a time.”
He pointed to the lack of available spaces for flex-type small business users in the wake of the data center boom.
“This land is irreplaceable and we are in the business of creating quality places for businesses.To expand our portfolio and to continue to serve the growing needs of our clients, we have to build more leaseable commercial space in Loudoun County. Otherwise, these companies will take their business and jobs elsewhere,” he said.
Currently, Ashburn Crossing has six buildings totaling approximately 220,000 square feet of R&D/office/flex space. The buildings have LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The new construction will entail the construction of three single-story R&D/office/flex buildings, two of which will be 46,080 square feet of space each. The third will consist of 43,620 square feet. All three buildings are designed to earn LEED certification.
“Our sustained leasing velocity, combined with the strength of the Northern Virginia economy, provides us with tremendous confidence to proceed with this next-phase of our speculative development strategy,” Holbrook said. “Each of our Northern Virginia business communities are performing extremely well and operating close to full capacity. The corporate mission of St. John Properties is to remain ahead of leasing demand and anticipate the emerging needs of our current and future clients. Our single-story product, with its flexible building configuration, high ceilings and free parking, is designed to meet the varied needs of multiple industry sectors. We have already generated significant interest in the R&D/office/flex buildings and the available pad site location.”
“Without the variety of real estate product available, such as what St. John Properties is developing in Northern Virginia, we lose deals,” stated Buddy Rizer, executive director of the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development. “We intend to help St. John Properties lease these buildings either before they are delivered, or soon after. St. John Properties builds places for businesses and this is exactly what we need.”
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