TYSONS CORNER, VA-American Real Estate Partners and Investcorp, an investment fund listed on the Bahrain Bourse, made a splash in the investment office market earlier this year with their $200 million portfolio acquisition. One of the properties acquired was the Tysons Commerce Center, a 181,000-square foot building office building here, that traded for about $50 million, according to a source.

Now American Real Estate Partners is planning a follow up with more acquisitions based on the same approach: one that Brian Katz, president and COO of American Real Estate Partners, describes as a combination of a value add and cash flowing income approach. "We are creating value through active management," he tells GlobeSt.com. By that he means the company looks to reposition a building while still keeping tenants in place. "That is the strategy we are putting in place with the firm and we have done it already with a number of assets." The Riverside on the James in Richmond, is one example; another are the dual buildings the company purchased in Washington DC in 2011 at 1140 and 1146 19th street. And presumably Tysons Commerce Center, although Katz declined to discuss pricing about that transaction.

In the coming days and weeks the company will be announcing the details of some $125 million worth of local transactions, assuming all goes well—three deals namely, one of which has already closed and two that are under contract. "Our focus is on the risk-adjusted returns – how much risk we can take to generate value add returns," Katz says.