Edens Buys NoVA Retail Center Fairfax Court for $52M
Retail’s strong fundamentals have the sector outperforming the rest
By Nick Trombola June 16, 2025 3:25 pm
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Open-air retail is among the most in-demand real estate sectors this year, and Washington, D.C.-based investment firm Edens is primed to take advantage.
The firm paid $52 million for Fairfax Court, a roughly 250,000-square-foot retail plaza at 11200 James Swart Circle in Fairfax, Va., according to the Business Journals. Seller WPG, formerly Washington Prime Group, is a former publicly traded real estate investment trust that went private following Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021.
Current tenants at Fairfax Court include Burlington with 112,630 square feet, Great Wall Supermarket with 38,876 square feet, and LA Fitness with 38,525 square feet.
Edens, which specializes in open-air shopping centers and mixed-use retail properties, is planning some renovations at the 15-acre Fairfax Court, though details are so far light. A brochure for Fairfax Court shows a series of “proposed renderings,” which include several watercolor-style images of the property displaying new exteriors and potential tenants. Edens’ plans may explain the price it paid for the property, well above its current assessed value of $37 million.
A spokesperson for WPG declined to comment about the sale, while representatives for Edens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Retail’s fundamentals through the first six months of this year remain robust, with low vacancy rates and stable rent growth, despite economic volatility and uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s global tariff policies. Grocery-anchored shopping centers are performing particularly well — as they often do during uncertain economic conditions — with sales in such stores up by 16 percent year-over-year.
The general mood last month at ICSC Las Vegas, commercial real estate’s biggest annual conference, rode high on retail’s strength. Many industry professionals at the conference told Commercial Observer that retail is the sector to beat at the moment; even gun shy capital markets are beginning to poke their collective head out of their shell to take advantage of demand.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
