ALEXANDRIA, VA-Baltimore-based Continental Realty Acquisitions has snapped up a multifamily property here for $23 million, with an eye to repositioning it and then taking advantage of the new job growth expected in the submarket. The class B apartment complex, Parkwood Court, is a 189-unit located at 101 N. Ripley St. CRS Alexandria Corp. was the seller. Andy Boyer, executive vice president of CBRE’s Washington Regional MultiHousing Group brokered the transaction.

“This is a value add play for the buyer,” Boyer tells GlobeSt.com. “They will put their spin on it, investing money in a renovation, rebranding it and then increasing the rents where and when they see fit.” There is an affordability component to the property that will remain under the new owner, he adds.

Part of the property’s upside is its proximity to the Mark Office Center, the site chosen for the relocation of the Department of Defense’s Washington Headquarters Service under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure.

Some 6,500 jobs are expected to come to the region when the building is fully occupied. It is not likely that Parkwood Court’s current tenants would be part of that workforce, Boyer says. However, the new owner hopes with the apartment complex’s repositioning it will be able to attract the type of tenants that would be apt to hold these Defense-related jobs. The property is currently 93.6% leased.

As it nears completion and occupancy, the Mark Center is figuring more prominently in local deals. Bonaventure Realty Group just secured a loan for $80.5 million from Freddie Mac on the Encore, a 461-unit property it owns here. The company expects it too will benefit from the opening of the Mark Center.