Arlington County, Virginia, has granted approval to Bethesda, Maryland-based REIT JBG Smith to repurpose more than 550,000 square feet of space in two out-of-service office buildings in Northern Virginia’s National Landing neighborhood.
The two buildings, at 2200 and 2100 Crystal Drive, will be adapted into a 195-unit apartment complex and a 344-room dual-branded hotel respectively, according to a news release shared with Multifamily Dive. The hotel will encompass both lifestyle and extended-stay brands.
“Arlington County staff were great partners in advancing a new, collaborative process that led to the streamlined approval of two transformative new uses in the National Landing neighborhood,” Matt Ginivan, co-head of development for JBG Smith, told Multifamily Dive. “We expect the addition of 195 new homes and a hotel to revitalize the site of two former office buildings and significantly enhance the vibrancy of the neighborhood.”
JBG Smith is taking advantage of a new initiative by the Arlington County Board aimed at transforming outdated office buildings into multi-use spaces. Passed in November 2024, the adaptive reuse policy seeks to address increasing office vacancy rates and declining property values while reshaping the future of commercial real estate.
Unexpected existing conditions often present a challenge for converting older office stock to residential. However, with 2200 Crystal Drive, JBG Smith spent extensive time and effort surveying and documenting these conditions.
“That investment gave our design team the full picture they needed to develop smart solutions that minimize impacts,” Ginivan said. “Adaptive reuse allows us to repurpose major components of the structure and building envelope, resulting in a 95% reduction of embodied carbon from the existing building enclosure and structure. In addition, we are designing the building to achieve LEED-Silver certification.”
JBG Smith has seen strong demand for the nearly 1,600 new apartments it developed and leased in National Landing in 2024. To date, The Grace and Reva are each over 80% leased, while The Zoe and Valen have seen more than 170 apartments rented since leasing began earlier this year.
Given the strong response to these properties, in designing 2200 Crystal Drive, JBG Smith found that the existing floorplate and column spacing naturally lends itself to larger units.
“On average, these units are 200 to 300 square feet larger than residences at our other recent high-rise deliveries,” Ginivan said. “More than 50% of the units are planned to be two- and three-bedroom floorplans.”
JBG Smith is approaching the final stages of design for the multifamily building and plans to begin construction by the end of 2025. The hotel will be developed by a third party, and further details are not available at this time.
Both the hotel and residential projects sit above successful, existing street-level retail, which will remain open throughout construction, according to Ginivan. JBG Smith also has future plans to expand the adaptive reuse model to other underutilized office buildings in National Landing.
“Following the board’s approval of 2100 and 2200 Crystal Drive, we are excited to propose 1800 and 1901 South Bell as candidates for adaptive reuse,” Ginivan said. “The two buildings would add approximately 300 multifamily units to the National Landing neighborhood.”
