The Bus Depot Deal Closes – WMATA Buys in ‘Andrews Federal’

WMATA now officially has a place to park its buses.

The transit agency, officially known as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, paid approximately $13.8 million recently for 35 industrial acres in the Andrews Federal Campus, in Forestville, MD.

A replacement facility for its Southern Avenue garage, the planned build-out now includes fleet maintenance and operations. WMATA had put out an RFP late last year seeking qualified firms to manage the design/build, and is reportedly expected to make a final choice from among the responding firms.

The deal is land sale number two for Andrews developer Jackson Shaw, but leaves the company with enough land to build two spec warehouses for its own account. Jackson Shaw had sold 12 acres to the Architect of the Capitol early in the park’s evolution, land that that federal agency has largely left fallow so far.

WMATA will do the grading on the 35 acres it just bought, but it got a cleared, platted site with utilities to the edge of the property. The agency will pay the seller an additional fee for off-lot development, pushing its ground price into the neighborhood of just of $11 per foot. Lance Schwarz and David Michael of NAI Michael represented Jackson Shaw.

Courtesy of Prince George’s Newsletter. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.marylandnewsletters.com.