JBG Smith Secures Approval to Convert Two Vacant National Landing Offices

One of the DMV’s leading developers and investors has the green light to convert a pair of unused Northern Virginia offices at its National Landing district into apartments and a hotel. 

Arlington County granted JBG Smith, the Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment trust, permission to redevelop 550,000 square feet of vacant office space into a 195-unit multifamily complex and a 344-key, dual-branded hotel. The REIT said that it was nearing completion on the design phase of the multifamily project, at 2200 Crystal Drive, and that construction would begin by the end of this year. 

JBG is meanwhile under contract to sell 2100 Crystal Drive to an unnamed third-party developer to convert that office into hotel space. A spokesperson for JBG declined to comment.

“2100 and 2200 Crystal are a testament to the success of Arlington County’s adaptive reuse policy, which will breathe new life into these buildings and bring new hotel rooms, residents and amenities to National Landing,” Matt Ginivan, JBG co-head of development, said in a statement. “We have thoughtfully designed 2200 Crystal to provide larger, multi-bedroom apartments that are in high demand but currently unavailable in the market.”

The DMV, and Washington, D.C., in particular, has become a hub for residential conversion projects in recent years as the area struggles with high office vacancy in the wake of the pandemic, as well as the uncertain ripple effects of President Donald Trump’s push to shrink the federal government. The District has more than 6,500 office-to-residential projects in the pipeline, according to a RentCafe report from earlier this year. 

JBG Smith has clearly played a role in that conversion trend, as the REIT claims to have transformed space with over 1,300 units to date. 

More are on the way, too — at least on paper. JBG for years has planned to redevelop two other properties at National Landing, 2250 Crystal Drive and 223 23rd Street, into two 30-story towers with over 1,400 units between them. Yet the current status of that megaproject, dubbed Crystal Plaza 5, is unclear. 

Just last month, meanwhile, Rockpoint Group sold the three-building Tysons Dulles Plaza to JBG for just $42.3 million, less than one-third of what Rockpoint paid for the complex in 2017. The REIT said at the time that it plans to redevelop one of those buildings into residences, while modernizing the other two offices. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.