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Is Everyone In America Buying a Condo? Three top REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS discuss Washington’s dramatic growth 1
1. Mark Bisnow Moderator Mark Bisnow has been a lawyer, politico, and businessman in Washington for nearly three decades and publishes a growing series of electronic newsletters, including Real Estate Weekly, which features interviews with top Washington-area experts. He also writes “BizKnow,” a weekly personality column in the Washington Business Journal. 2. Anthony Lanier Anthony M. Lanier founded EastBanc, Inc. in the late 80s, a Washington D.C.-based real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition, redevelopment and management of real estate assets. With a focus on urban mixed-use investment, EastBanc’s developments include upscale retail, luxury residential, Class A and Class B office and luxury hotel property types. Since 1987, EastBanc and its partners have acquired and/or developed over four million square feet, which represents an investment value in excess of $1 billion. Washington’s West End and Georgetown neighborhoods, as well as its Central Business District, are the core markets for the group’s most recent development projects.
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4. Michael Darby Michael Darby is a principal and cofounder of Monument Realty, one of Washington’s leading real estate development firms. Along with partner, Jeffrey Neal, he oversees the firm’s diverse work throughout the region, including a portfolio of more than five million square feet of office, and over 3000 residential units. Current projects include Belles Rives at The Watergate, Dumbarton Place, Potomac Place, The Connecticut, and Columbia Center in Washington, D.C.; and The Odyssey, The Hawthorn, and The Palatine in Arlington, Virginia.
Mark Bisnow: What are each of your marquee projects? Michael Darby: We have approximately five thou-
Arlington to a $1,000 a square foot at the Watergate, depending on the market and location.
sand condo units in Maryland,Virginia, and D.C. The Watergate is one of the highest-profile. We have four projects in Arlington Courthouse and a bunch on Glebe Road. Eventually, we will build condos down by the ballpark in Southeast. We have seven hundred units in Southwest that we’ve nearly completed and some projects up on 22nd and P Street, N.W.
Bisnow: What percentage of Monument’s activity is in condos? Darby: We have about $3 billion of development
Bisnow: What does a typical condo among your five thousand units cost? Darby: They range in value from $500,000 in
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3. Monty Hoffman As founder and CEO of PN Hoffman, Monty Hoffman has developed extraordinary upscale condominium residences and mixed-use properties in Washington, D.C. Under his leadership, the company is deeply committed to serving the neighborhoods of the District and has built over 30 developments throughout the city.
| washingtonlife.com
underway, about $1 billion of that is office space and the other two-thirds is condos. Anthony Lanier: At the moment, our key project is 22 West, also known as the Zinc Building, but I always think our latest project as our best project. Unlike Michael (laughs), who differentiates by which building will arrive when, I have a clear notion of my last building. Our condo activity is about 60 percent of our overall activities.
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