ARLINGTON, VA-Plans for the construction of a new office facility, to be known as Randolph Square, have been added to the mix at the Village at Shirlington Square. Monument Realty LLC and Transwestern Investment Co. have joined forces to develop the 195,000-sf building.

As part of Federal Realty Investment Trust's $13-million mixed-use project, Randolph Square will add a major office component to what to date has been a predominantly residential/retail complex. The building is being designed by Hickok Warner Cole Architects.

In addition to its class A office component, Randolph Square will also feature 16,000 sf of ground-level retail space and a parking facility to accommodate 200 vehicles. Monument and Transwestern are currently awaiting the thumbs-up from Arlington County Planning Commission before moving forward with the proposed project. If all goes as planned, work will begin on the building this year and will wrap up two years later.

The Mark Winkler Co., a closely held family real estate company that has been in business in Washington for 60 years, has decided to sell its real estate holdings -- one of the largest portfolios in the area -- to several developers for $2.3 billion.

Duke Realty Corp., an Indianapolis company that owns office buildings in 14 cities across the Midwest and the South, agreed to buy the bulk of the company's 32 commercial office buildings in Northern Virginia. That includes office properties at the mixed-use Mark Center in Alexandria, and the TransDulles Center, an office and industrial park just north of Dulles International Airport, Winkler said yesterday.

While location may be the most influential factor determining the value of an individual property, jobs are the most influential factor on the Northern Virginia real estate market, according to local economic and real estate experts. And while not every property sold can enjoy a perfect location, the entire Washington area benefits from the strong employment figures for this region.

"While I can't deny the fact that inventory has increased and prices are not increasing as fast as they were a few months ago, my overall opinion about the real estate market remains positive," says Dr. Stephen Fuller, Director for the Center for Regional Analysis and School of Public Policy at George Mason University. "The reality is that we are seeing job growth in every sector in this area. Two-thirds of all the jobs in the region are being created in Northern Virginia. The annual average so far in 2005 is 80,200 new jobs for the region, which means that 53,000 new jobs were created in Northern Virginia."

Gov. Tim Kaine (D), the leadership of the Virginia Senate and a group of Northern Virginia legislators are suggesting a variety of tax and fee increases that, if approved, would have local residents paying more to buy a car, to register that car, to gas it up, to maintain it and to pull it into the garage of a brand new house.

Kaine and the senators aim to raise roughly $1 billion a year with their plans for road and mass transit projects across the commonwealth.

The other plan, submitted by delegates Tom Rust (R-86th) of Herndon, Dave Albo (R-42nd) of Springfield and central Fairfax Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-34th), would raise up to $300 million for Northern Virginia.

Alexandria City
COMMONWEALTH AVE 209 $469,900
DUKE ST 4600 #711 $225,000
E MONROE AVE 209 $597,300
EISENHOWER AVE 2201 $13,500,000
ELBERT AVE 3821 $70,000
FIRST ST 635 #103 $569,900
FIRST ST 635 #403 $623,200
HOLMES RUN PKWY 5500 #810 $325,000
HOLMES RUN PKWY 5500 #C3 $200,000
N WASHINGTON ST 952 $690,000
QUANTRELL AVE 5831 #404 $210,000
S HENRY ST 629 $335,000
W DEL RAY AVE 55 $601,000

Arlington Co.
ARLINGTON
17TH ST N 5008 $630,000
20TH RD N 4635 #9 $189,000
20TH RD N 4641 #4 $225,000
20TH RD N 4643 $196,000
22ND ST N 6030 $974,900
26TH ST N 5855 $1,580,000
37TH RD N 4301 $740,000

In 2001, two condos sold for more than $500,000 in Fairfax County. This year, through September, buyers paid more than half a million dollars for 98 condos in the county.
It’s a similar story for Arlington County. Four years ago, eight condos priced at $500,000 or more sold, but this year 119 have changed hands.
Condos, long considered the runt of the housing market, have been on a 10-year selling streak, typically outpacing the previous year’s record sales marks, according to the National Association of Realtors. And, despite a bust in the early 1990s, their appeal in and around major urban markets has only grown.