based real estate investment trust to be its partner in developing HQ2. JBG Smith will act as landlord, property manager and builder, due in part to its ownership of 6.2 million square feet of office space and 2,850 multifamily units in the National Landing area. JBG Smith also will work with Virginia
Tech to build out the area around the site of the university’s planned $1 billion Innovation Campus in Potomac Yard. The university will “build its own buildings on three acres during the next decade,” says Andy Van Horn, JBG Smith’s executive vice president of development. However, he adds, JBG Smith will “build every- thing around it. We’ll be their partner in every way.” JBG Smith is moving quickly and
on an unprecedented scale to develop or redevelop its many properties in the National Landing area. In all, Van Horn says, “north of 60%” of the work currently being undertaken by JBG Smith is taking place there. It controls 6.9 million square feet of local development possibilities outside of Amazon’s needs, and in the near term, Van Horn expects the company to develop 2.2 million square feet of office space and 4.7 million square feet of residential space, adding 4,000 to 5,000 housing units to the area. JBG Smith started on Crystal City’s
comeback when Northern Virginia was just a gleam in Amazon’s eye. In 2018, the developer gained county approval to build the Central District Retail, a 109,000-square-foot entertainment and shopping destination. Slated to open in 2021, it will be anchored by an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and offer a specialty grocer, restaurants and bars. But that was only the beginning of
JBG Smith’s ambitions. It also plans eight high-rises. In March, JBG Smith received
approval from Arlington County to erect the first two towers, one 27 stories, the other 26 stories, at 1900 Crystal Drive. These residential high-rises, expected to deliver in 2023, will offer about 800 resi- dential units and 600 parking spaces. Both will also contain a combined
40,000 square feet of street-level retail connected by a woonerf, a Dutch term meaning “living street.” The woonerf is
Rendering courtesy JBG Smith Properties Expected to be completed in 2023, two residential towers at 1900 Crystal Drive will climb to 26 and 27 stories high.
intended to allow motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to mingle in a shared safe space, part of the push to make National Landing more appealing on the ground — and to the Amazon ethos.
Reaching for the moon Also in the JGB Smith pipeline
are towers at 2300 Crystal Drive and 223 23rd St., one commercial and one residential. The Crystal Drive tower will be 24 stories and include 520,000 square feet of office space and 15,000-plus square feet of ground-floor retail space. The other tower, 31 stories, will have 645 apartments and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. A third and fourth set of towers are planned for 2525 Crystal Drive and
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2000/2001 S. Bell St. The interconnected buildings would form a striking V shape, encompassing 710,000 square feet of residential space and 59,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Because one tower would rise 300 feet,
exceeding the county’s 200-foot zoning restrictions, the project has been tem- porarily tabled. It “pushed the envelope,” says Van Horn, who is confident a reso- lution will be reached with the county on the project. These projects alone could keep
construction crews in overtime, but they aren’t all the company has in the offing. JBG Smith also submitted plans
to the county in November 2019 for a nine-story building at 101 12th St.
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