Deirdre Johnson
Deirdre M. Johnson
Senior Vice President, Asset Management at Federal Realty
The Northern Virginia office of real estate firm Federal Realty has become a competitive leader in the marketplace in the three years since its opening. “The success of Federal Realty’s Northern Virginia regional office is the result of our extremely collaborative and focused team,” said Deidre Johnson, a senior vice president at Federal Realty.
During the past 12 months, Federal Realty has deployed $260 million in investment capital to acquire four properties totaling 610,000 square feet in Northern Virginia, including the second phase of Kingstowne Towne Center, which will close this summer.
The company’s total gross leasable area in Northern Virginia is now 3.2 million square feet and the total statewide area is 4.3 million square feet, according to Johnson.
One of the company’s signature assets is the Birch & Broad shopping center in Falls Church, which has seen a rapid lease-up. “Another important milestone is property improvement plans, such as the transformation of Falls Plaza to a highly amenitized and rebranded Birch & Broad, which has driven record leasing volumes for our portfolio and company,” Johnson said.
During 2022, Federal Realty has continued to amenitize its properties to increase social connection through outdoor cafe seating areas featuring gas fireplaces, play areas and other improvements.
“We have executed on property renovation plans that attract new and exciting retail and service concepts while also benefiting our existing longtime merchants,” Johnson said. “We are highly focused on sustainability, including LED lighting retrofits, EV-charging stations, native species landscape improvements, and [automated meter reading] water meters. We will also install our first beehive in Virginia this year.”
This year, Johnson is focusing on new store openings; identifying and executing on value-add redevelopment opportunities within the existing portfolio; and maintaining Federal Realty’s strong acquisition pace.
“The only constant is change, and nowhere is that truer than in the shopping center industry,” she said. “We are at our best in an evolving environment as it increases our level of focus and creativity to meet the needs and desires of our stakeholders, which includes our merchants, customers and investors.” —K.L.
