St. John Properties Begins Construction on Four Industrial Buildings in Dulles, Va.

In January, The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors granted final approval to the company for a zoning change of Arcola Center to switch from retail to more flex/office product. 

The four single-story buildings will range from 22,240 to 45,120 square feet and feature flexible suite sizes to cater to the real estate needs of professional services, tech firms, light manufacturing, retail-type uses, logistics companies, and a variety of other users, according to the developer.

“This area does not have enough of the flex/R&D product, which we are developing now, to support the local companies that need this type of building to operate and grow their business,” Matt Holbrook, a regional partner at St. John Properties, said in a statement. “With the struggles of retail development over the past decade, from the rise of e-commerce to the fallout of bricks and mortar retail from the pandemic, the highest and best use for this property isn’t pure retail, but rather a business park with a mix of uses.” 

Loudoun County has more than 3 million square feet of flex and warehouse space, with a vacancy rate of under 1 percent, according to the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development.

Arcola Center is next to the Dulles Landing retail development and the future Shops at Arcola Center. The property is approximately five miles from Dulles International Airport, six miles from Tysons, and 30 miles from Downtown Washington, D.C. 

Update: This story originally misattributed source material. This has been corrected. We apologize for the error.

Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.