ROCKVILLE, MD-Private equity firm Capri Capital Partners has taken a $200-million majority stake in North Bethesda Market, a project jointly owned by JBG Cos. and MacFarlane Partners. Recently delivered, North Bethesda Market consists of 397 multifamily units and 199,000 square feet of retail space, much of which is being leased by a Whole Foods Market, Seasons 52, Arhaus Furniture and LA Fitness.

Some 40,000 square feet of retail space is still available. JBG declined to comment to GlobeSt.com beyond the released statement.

Capri has made several investments in the DC area, but nothing within the last few years, Kenneth T. Lombard, president of Capri Urban Investors, tells GlobeSt.com. The firm is currently evaluating other projects, he adds. The fund for which Capri acquired this majority stake is a long-term buy-and-hold fund, which gives the company the flexibility to time its exit strategy appropriately. Lombard declined to discuss projected IRR for the investment.

Like REITs, private equity firms are eager to invest in the DC area, either by monetizing a developer’s stake in a project--like Capri is doing--or by underwriting development directly. Transit oriented projects, a category in which North Bethesda Market is included, appear, at least anecdotally, to be popular.

In a separate transaction, Monument Realty and New York-based Atlas Capital Group have just announced they have received rezoning approval from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for Liberty View, an 879,000-square-foot multi-phased office development near the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station. It is an important milestone in the two-and-a-half-year assemblage and entitlement process, the developers say.

They also announced a new partner in the project: Chicago-based private equity firm Walton Street Capital. If the name sounds familiar it’s because Walton Street Capital has also provided funding to NoMa’s Constitution Square.