WASHINGTON (July 22, 2020) – The City of Alexandria signed a lease for 215,806-square-feet at 4850 Mark Center Drive, which will enable the consolidation of multiple City leased and owned facilities currently spread throughout Alexandria, Virginia.

Savills Corporate Managing Director David Cornbrooks, Executive Managing Director Timothy Foley and Senior Managing Director Wendy Feldman Block represented the City in negotiations for the long-term lease. The 15-year transaction will enable the City's Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS), the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and Neighborhood Health to co-locate and consolidate its operations into a single building, which will be more conducive to client service delivery and department collaboration.

“This transaction will allow the City, DCHS, VDH and Neighborhood Health to create a one-stop shop by consolidating services in a centralized location, which will ultimately improve services, create operational efficiencies, enhance cross department collaboration and provide better access to its constituents, all in a significantly upgraded environment,” said Cornbrooks.

After an extensive strategic planning effort and an exhaustive evaluation of multiple potential alternatives, the City ultimately zeroed in on an off-market opportunity identified by Savills at 4850 Mark Center Drive, a building owned and fully occupied by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). The City will retain IDA, the largest private sector employer in the city, who will relocate to a newly built a headquarters building in Potomac Yard. 

“The City’s new lease presented a significantly lower cost structure than the other competing options,” said Jeremy McPike, director of the City’s Department of General Services (DGS). “Savills and the City through DGS negotiated maximum flexibility on behalf of the City, including multiple purchase options, multiple expansion rights, operational flexibility and renewal rights.”

The City of Alexandria is an AAA-rated independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia just south of downtown Washington, DC. DCHS provides social services and public benefits assistance to improve the well-being, safety and self-sufficiency of Alexandria residents. VHD provides essential public health services to Alexandria residents by operating public health specialty clinics, helping its communities prepare for, respond to and recover from public health emergencies, assessing food safety at restaurants and permitted facilities, investigating communicable diseases and offering guidance to prevent the spread of disease; and advancing community health initiatives.