FAIRFAX, VA—A medical group took the plunge into ownership and bought a five-story office property near the new Inova Fairfax Hospital here after concluding that buying was cheaper than renting, according to CBRE's Bill Prutting.

Prutting arranged the sale of the 26,360-square foot building, located at 3028 Javier Rd., which traded for $5.4 million. Dittmar Co. was the seller; GI Partners Javier Rd. LLC was the buyer. CBRE's W. Carter Byrnes collaborated with Prutting in representing the seller.

There were many elements to the building that intrigued the buyer, Prutting tells GlobeSt.com. Among them were its proximity to Innova, the scarcity of other product in the area, and the fact that the building is in walking distance to the Mosaic Center's shops and restaurants. For these reasons, the property property received several competitive offers and the ultimate bid exceeded the asking price by several hundred thousand dollars, Prutting says.

Another compelling factor for the buyers is one that will sound familiar to home buyers: the medical group did the math and came to the conclusion that buying was cheaper than renting.

They were able to secure a loan from Cardinal Bank to be used for the acquisition financing and to pay for some $1.5 million in renovations.

Inova Health System expects to break ground on its $252-million cancer center here after receiving the final zoning approval from the Fairfax County supervisors last week. In related news, the 258,000-square-foot, seven-story facility Inova is planning to build in this submarket is poised to start development; it is to be built at the corner of Williams Drive and Arlington Boulevard, north of Inova Fairfax Hospital. The development will also include a 1,160-space parking facility.