ROCKVILLE, MD—This past summer Lantian Development and 1788 Holdings announced they had formed a joint venture with the ambitious goal of 1) acquiring a 31-acre site in Rockville, then 2) renovating the existing office buildings with the site to retain the tenants and hopefully bring on new ones and finally 3) transforming the area into a mixed-use project that will eventually support 1.5 to 2-million-square feet of office, medical office, retail, hospitality and residential use.
Step one was a done deal when the two Bethesda, MD-based partners announced the transaction in July: they had purchased the site for $50 million from TA Realty.
Now, they can check off Step two.
They have renewed leases with four separate tenants for a total of 38,700 square feet.
The tenants that have renewed are the Montgomery County Board of Education for 14,801 square feet and Sheladia Architects for 10,395 square feet, at 4 Choke Cherry Rd.
Adaptive Methods for 8,112 square feet and OCR Services for 5,458 square feet at 15825 Shady Grove Rd.
There are seven properties all together with the site, fronting on Shady Grove Road between Choke Cherry Road and Gaither Road: 15825 Shady Grove Rd., 2 and 4 Choke Cherry Rd. and 2092, 2094, 2096 and 2098 Gaither Rd.
Bob Dickman, Bob Wrightson and Brian McCarthy of Avison Young represented the owner in the lease renewals. The brokerage team is pursuing prospects to back fill the remaining vacant space. 2094 Gaither Rd., for example, is completely empty and being repositioned for medical and healthcare related uses.
Meanwhile, renovations are underway. 15825 Shady Grove Rd. is having work done to add ready-to-move-in office suites that will be ready in January 2016. Eventually, the properties located at 2 Choke Cherry Rd. and 4 Choke Cherry Rd. will be demolished.
Lantian Development and 1788 Holdings expect to steer $500 million in new investment into the project over a ten-year period. Next year they plan to reveal more about the project's branding and design.
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