FALLS CHURCH, VA-Real estate companies are beginning to tip their hands as to their 2011 plans and ING Clarion is no exception: the company plans to acquire between $1 billion and $2 billion in the US for the year, spread across its range of funds and clients, director Marc DeLuca tells GlobeSt.com. The Washington, DC area will be a key market for the company for obvious reasons. "It is a hot spot for a lot of our clients and funds," he says.

The company has acquired its first building here for 2011, one with which ING is quite familiar. The firm has acquired 3150 Fairview Park, a class A, eight-story office building here, for $90 million, from Franklin Street Properties. ING Clarion acquired it on behalf of a commingled fund. In 2009 ING Clarion Partners sold the 252,000-square foot property for $73 million. It first acquired it in 2004 for $92.8 million from Hines.

This last trade was off-market, DeLuca says. "We solicited the opportunity from the seller." There are a lot of reasons to like the building, he says, starting off with the fact that it is the only trophy-quality asset in this submarket. Also, the Department of Defense recently signed a 600,000-square foot lease nearby and it is located across the street from the Northrop Grumman headquarters.

This trade, though, is not to serve as a guide for what else ING Clarion is looking for in an investment, DeLuca warns: "We don’t sit here and segregate dollar amounts for regions. We look at assets on a deal-by-deal basis. In general, he says, the firm is looking at core and core plus as well as development opportunities.

Other ING units made news recently with industry talk that CB Richard Ellis is eyeing the purchase of ING Real Estate investment Management.