TYSONS, VA—Corporate Office Properties Trust sold 1550 Westbranch Dr., here because it wasn't core to its mission. If executives at the REIT were being entirely candid they might add it is also an outdated six-story building whose sole occupier plans to depart in 2016.

The REIT found a buyer for the property – a partnership between Rubenstein Partners and Griffith Properties. They paid $27.75 million for the 152,000-square foot building that was built in 2001. They are, as any buyer would be, pleased with the purchase. The question is, why?

The proximity of the Silver Line is an obvious answer and 1550 Westbranch Dr. is located about half a mile away from the McLean metro station, Peter Doherty, investment principal with Griffith Properties, tells GlobeSt.com.

But there's more.

The asset was built for multi-tenant use, he says. It has column free floor plates and 9' finished ceiling heights among other attributes. "We feel 1550 best represents an ideal location under the new master plan and the future of Tysons," he says.

The company plans to upgrade the cafeteria, fitness facility and conference center, as well as the bathrooms and common areas. Doherty declined to say how much the company is investing in renovations. Proximity to the Silver Line, though, is the feature that stands out the most. "We are a strong proponent of the long-term strength of Northern Virginia and particularly the Metro Silver Line," Doherty said in a prepared statement when announcing the deal.

Coincidentally, the Silver Line just turned one year old. Its economic impact is already obvious, according to Fairfax County Economic Development Authority CEO Gerald L. Gordon.

In the first phase of Silver Line construction, four stations opened in Tysons Corner and one opened in Reston. Phase two of the line is under construction to Washington Dulles International Airport, and that phase will include another station in Reston and two in Herndon.

"When Intelsat announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters into Tysons Corner, company executives made it clear that the decision was only possible because of the ability of the company's workforce to get to the new building on Metro," Gordon said. "Similarly, when Cvent announced that it was going to keep its corporate headquarters in Fairfax County rather than yielding to entreaties from other jurisdictions, a leading factor in the consideration was rail access."

Such calculations are not limited to the Intelsats and Cvents of the corporate world; smaller companies want to be as close as possible to public transit -- a fact hardly lost on the Griffith-Rubenstein partnership.

"We think this is the ideal time to make selective office investments in Northern Virginia for assets that are locationally and physically superior to the substantial inventory of commodity space," said Steve Evans, regional director of the Washington, D.C. market for Rubenstein. There are other targeted opportunities the two companies expect to acquire, he added.