First Phase of Home Properties’ Suburban D.C. Apartment Project Opens in Growing Market

Alexandria, Va.–The national apartment market has taken a beating from the recession and job losses, but the first phase of Home Properties Inc.’s The Courts at Huntington Station, a 421-unit project in Alexandria, Va., that will ultimately cost approximately $127 million to develop, appears to have opened its doors in just the right place at just the right time.

Located just 10 miles south of Washington, D.C., The Courts will consist of four buildings once all is said and done. The recently completed first phase of the apartment community delivered two structures containing 202 studio, one- two- and three-bedroom residences. The project is inherently green, as it is a transit-oriented development situated just a stone’s throw from a Metro Station.

Leasing activity at The Courts has been better than the Rochester, N.Y.-headquartered developer had anticipated. “We’ve had very strong demand,” Charis W. Warshof, vice president of investor relations with Home Properties, tells MHN. “We expected to have leased about 30 apartments at this point, but we’ve already leased 82. And pricing has been better that what we expected, so we haven’t experienced any weakness because of the recession.”

Among the factors that are spurring demand for the property are location and timing. The Courts is sited between the Pentagon and its bevy of employees and Fort Belvoir, where approximately 19,000 civilian and military workers will relocate by 2012 as a result of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure process.

Additionally, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s new 2.5 million-square-foot headquarters is nearby.  “We reached out to the Patent and Trade Office,” Warshof says. “They’re having new examiners coming from out of state so we’ve had great demand from them.”

Construction of the second phase of The Courts development is presently underway and on schedule to debut in May 2011 with the remaining 219 residences.