Obviously pleased with its association with the Westfields Corporate Center in Chantilly, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) broke ground recently on a new, 216,000-square-foot building there.
COPT already owns seven buildings with a total of 1 million square feet in Westfields and has been a significant presence there since 2001. The new structure will be six floors and should be completed by summer or fall of 2005.
"We've been in discussions with several potential tenants," said Derrick Boegner, COPT's vice president of asset management and leasing. "Forty percent of our portfolio is comprised of the U.S. government or U.S. government contractors, and we're building this based on what we see is a continued demand for space within the defense industry in the Northern Virginia market."
The new building will be at 15010 Conference Center Drive, adjacent to Washington Technology Parks I and II. "It's part of our effort to increase our holdings in Northern Virginia," said Boegner. "We are working very hard to lease all or a majority of the property, as soon as possible."
COPT is a suburban-office, real-estate investment trust which owns 8.5 million square feet of office space in Chantilly and along the Dulles/Route 28 Corridor. It constructs and leases buildings to the federal government and defense contractors and locates them in select geographic areas.
Accordingly, said Boegner, COPT currently owns the most square footage of any landlord in the Westfields Corporate Center. "We like the fundamentals of Westfields — the location and the access to I-66, Route 28 and the Dulles Greenway — and the proximity to Dulles Airport," he explained. "We see it as a desirable location as the residential growth continues to be in Loudoun and western Fairfax counties."
Furthermore, he added, "We also feel it allows the greatest flexibility for our tenants to have the opportunity to grow their businesses within our holdings in Westfields. We have a lot of confidence in the regional economy — the continued job growth, highly educated workforce and what we see will be continued, strong employment growth."
Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) participated in and spoke at the groundbreaking, and Boegner said COPT is happy to have the support of the people of Fairfax County. As for Frey, he was pleased to see the COPT building begin.
"It's nice to see Westfields continue to build out and bring new jobs and new commercial tax revenue," he said. Noting the county's tremendous reliance on residential real-estate property taxes to fund its budget, he said another source of commercial revenue is always welcome.
"And the fact that Commercial Office Properties Trust is willing to start a building [here] shows tremendous confidence in the economy in the future," said Frey. "So, all in all, I think it is great news."
Likewise, Bill Keech, who built Westfields, is also delighted that COPT has buildings and properties on his corporate campus. He's been pleased with its quality of development and, he said, "Corporate Office Properties Trust is the caliber of company I like to see in Westfields."
COPT's Northern Virginia regional headquarters are at 15,000 Conference Center Drive, and the new structure will be right next door. Said Boegner: "It will be connected to our other property there, Washington Technology Park I, which is 470,000 square feet. It has numerous conference and auditorium facilities that can be used by clients in the new building, as well."