Office

Arconic forges deal for new headquarters in Tysons

August 9, 2018 | Daniel J. Sernovitz, The Washington Business Journal

It was three months ago at the Tower Club, a popular power lunch spot at 8000 Towers Crescent Drive in Tysons, that New York-based metals producer Arconic Inc. announced plans to shift its headquarters to an undisclosed location in Fairfax County.

Now, we know where it will land: less than a mile and a half away from that spot. Arconic (NYSE: ARNC) has signed a lease with Lerner Enterprises for about 23,000 square feet at Tysons II. The 13-story, 305,000-square-foot office building at 1600 Tysons Blvd. is leased by companies including Attain, Hensel Phelps and T. Rowe Price.

Brian Sapp of Fischer & Co. and Mark Larsen of Larsen Commercial Real Estate Services represented Arconic, while Brian Tucker and John Dragelin, both of JLL, represented Lerner.

The deal is a win for Lerner, which completed a series of building upgrades earlier this year including a conference center with flexible seating for up to 85, an open-catering pantry, WiFi lounge and private rooms for collaboration space. It’s also another shot in the arm for Tysons, struggling to battle back from an elevated office vacancy rate north of 19 percent but aided by recent activity from companies including OneWeb.

Lerner declined to disclose how much vacant space will remain at Tysons II after Arconic settles in. In a statement, principal Mark Lerner said he is pleased to welcome the company to the building and touted its role in helping to solidify Tysons II’s “position as the iconic business address in Northern Virginia.”

The company’s planned move is notable as Northern Virginia economic development officials try to reduce the region’s dependence on the federal government. In April, Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam announced he had approved a $750,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to incentivize Arconic’s relocation.

“We had a lot of different footprints and had a disciplined approach to it in terms of how we ended up in Fairfax,” Cruise said at the time.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the publicly traded company could be the target of a leveraged buyout.

The Washington Business Journal