Hines Accelerates Metro DC Development
The project will add more than 300 units to a 2,000-acre master-planned community.
Hines, in partnership with Japanese companies Sumitomo Forestry and Chuo-Nittochi Co., has closed on the acquisition of a development parcel in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Dumfries, Va. The property will feature 365 market-rate apartments that will be part of Potomac Shores, a 2,000-acre master-planned community along the Potomac River. The buyers did not release a purchase price.
In addition to the land closing, the joint venture secured a construction loan through Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. Construction is expected to commence construction later in July, with completion slated for 2027.
The property is a wood-frame building, in accordance with one of Sumitomo Forestry’s stated goals, namely popularizing wooden buildings that store carbon for long periods of time. The five-story property will be sectioned into studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, a mix aimed that will be at attracting both young professionals and families.
Common-area amenities will include a coworking lounge, entertainment center, children’s play area, resort-style pool with cabanas and a fitness center. The property sports a rooftop sky lounge with an open-air terrace and unobstructed views of the Potomac River.
This is also a transit-oriented development, since it will be located one block from a future Virginia Railway Express commuter station, which is scheduled for completion in late 2026. The station will afford direct access to the District and other nearby employment hubs, such as Quantico and Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington, Va.
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The development is Houston-based Hines’ fourth residential project in northern Virginia in the last year. The company also recently acquired 80 acres for a development known as Thomas Farm in Prince William County. That property will have 230 residential units.
Last year, Hines acquired two land development lots, including 245 acres in Loudoun County and nearly 13 acres in Manassas, Va. The two parcels are being developed into master-planned communities, adding over 1,200 single-family homes to these suburban D.C. submarkets. Currently, Hines owns and operates more than $90 billion in real estate assets.
Metro DC multifamily fundamentals remain resilient
For the 12 months ending with Q1 2025, some 15,688 multifamily units came on line in metro DC, a spike that isn’t anticipated to be repeated this year, according to Marcus & Millichap. For 2025, a projected 9,400 units will be completed, thus easing pressure on the market’s fundamentals.
The market continues to be tight, with a vacancy rate of 3.8 percent as of the first quarter of 2025, the same source reports. That is 130 basis points lower than the metro market’s 20-year average vacancy of 5.1 percent. The northern Virginia submarket began 2025 with a 3.5 percent vacancy rate.
Low vacancies aren’t pushing rents up the way they did earlier this decade, however. Compared with the first quarter of 2024, rents are now 3.7 percent higher. As recently as 2021, rental growth in metro DC topped 10 percent on an annual basis.
