Matt Kelly

Despite the roller coaster ride of the past two years, Matt Kelly says he is proud that his team has not missed a beat, continuing to advance the Bethesda, Md.-based company’s strategic objectives on all fronts.

Chief among those are Amazon’s $2.5 billion HQ2 development and Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus, which both remain on schedule in JBG SMITH’s National Landing.

“Our efforts in National Landing over the past year have paved the way toward our placemaking goals and for Amazon’s continued progress,” Kelly said. “In lockstep, we grew our footprint surrounding Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus by entering into a joint venture that will deliver 2 million square feet of new, mixed-use development.”

JBG SMITH also started construction on a pair of multifamily towers at 2000 and 2001 South Bell Street, joining 1900 Crystal Drive in its active residential pipeline in National Landing. The company is also in full swing on its Dining in the Park and Water Park projects, both intended to serve as culinary destinations and community gathering spots.

“We completed construction and have leased nearly all of our 100,000-square-foot Crystal Drive retail development,” Kelly said. “Our current National Landing pipeline includes over 210,000 square feet of additional retail that will bring more than 50 new restaurants and shops for the community to enjoy.”

In total, JBG SMITH and Amazon’s planned deliveries over the next few years will almost triple the number of street-level retailers in the area.

Coupled with the existing anchor presence of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, JBG SMITH’s holdings in National Landing sit amid a powerhouse combination of current and future demand drivers.

“We also made progress in our capital allocation strategy to shift our portfolio to primarily multifamily in the region’s best submarkets and concentrate our office assets in National Landing,” Kelly said. “All the while, we preserved our balance sheet strength and liquidity.”

This positions JBG SMITH incredibly well to capitalize on what it expects to be years of strong and sustained growth in one of the most innovation clusters in the country.