TYSONS CORNER, VA-The big deal of the week, thus far, in the Washington DC area is without a doubt Meridian Group's agreement to purchase Science Applications International Corp.'s landmark 18-acre corporate headquarters campus. The first stage of the deal consists of the trade of four office towers totaling 900,000 square feet and a 600,000 square foot sale leaseback with SAIC. SAIC has filed plans to redevelop the property with an additional 3 million square feet of mixed uses, including office, residential, retail, and hotel. Meridian will take over these plans.

The initial phase of the deal -- that is, the sale of the towers, and lease back to SAIC -- is clocking in around $85 million. The other parcels will likely close in the range of $120 million to $140 million, according to a securities filing, assuming nothing dramatically changes in the development plan.

Meridian's $160-million discretionary real estate fund, Meridian Realty Partners I, is making the purchase. The company is planning a $20-million renovation on two of the towers. The fourth building will be demolished.

Sale leasebacks are an area of growing interest to investors and will likely continue for the rest of the year—especially as more capital becomes available to finance these transactions. At a recent RealShare Net Lease conference, Chad Edmonson, executive director, W.P. Carey, noted that while individual investors are still a factor in this environment, "it's all about having multiple sources of capital. Institutions are looking for cash; we look for good quality deals with 10-12 IRRs and we spend a lot of time on exit strategy."

Lexington Realty Trust is another player in this space, having recently acquired an asset in the port of Houston as a sale leaseback. Vice chairman and CIO Richard Rouse told GlobeSt.com TV that the company plans to invest some $300 million to $400 million over the next 12 months – assuming cap rates remain the same.