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A newly opened development near the nation’s capital has taken mixed-use design to a new dimension that befits the currently predominant, coronavirus-prompted lifestyle of living and working in a single place.
Sited in Falls Church, Virginia, and zoned for commercial as well as residential use, Mission Lofts is a work/live building that offers several – instead of a single – mode of utilization for each of its 156 units.
“Unlike most buildings, Mission Lofts allow each of the units to be occupied at all time at the tenants’ choice as either a place to live, a place to work, or a place to do both,” says developer Robert Seldin, CEO of Highland Square Holdings. “The combined live/work space winds up with the net result of having a 300% potential utility in a 100% physical class.”
Having acquired a final certificate of occupancy about a week ago, the building is scheduling move-ins, with a residential renter as well as a firm having already inked leases. Two other early tenants will blend living and working in their units, Seldin says.
Even if, three years ago, when Highland Square Holdings began work on Mission Lofts, Seldin couldn’t have predicted that the development would come online amid a health pandemic that has produced a widespread shift to working from home, the project certainly fits the day.
“Part of the benefit of this product type is that it allows the building to adapt to wherever the market may go instantaneously and for no additional cost,” Seldin says.
Unlike residential complexes, the building, which was once an office space, boats fiber-optic lines, power capacity, layouts and a parking lot, among other features, to support a business operation. The location doesn’t hurt, either. Mission Lofts rests in an opportunity zone, which bring federal funding opportunities to local companies.
Robert Seldin
At the same time, though, the property comes with large windows, high ceilings and exposed ductwork popular with contemporary residential developments.
Amenities, accessible to both residential and commercial renters, include a clubhouse, a sundeck and a fitness center, among others.
Monthly rent here starts at roughly $2,000 for a unit that can serve as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. No matter whether a unit houses a business or a residential occupant, rent is the same, calculated based on square footage and location in the building, Seldin says.
While few differences exist between lease agreements for residential and commercial use, firms with a Mission Lofts address have to be registered with the local municipality.
From an office building to a live/work development
Seldin’s concept for live/work properties sprang up with the realization that, complying with office occupancy codes, the typical 1,000-square-foot apartment can accommodate the typical American company, a small business with 10 or fewer workers.
His idea also emerged at a time when co-working spaces were on the rise, while traditional office buildings struggled with growing vacancies as firms warmed up to remote jobs, Seldin says.
When it comes to the latter, Mission Lofts is a case in point. Erected in the 1960s, the building was occupied by the Defense Department, Saldin says, before the federal government restructured its facilities in the early 2010s, which left the property, along with many others, mostly empty.
As another developer’s plans to raze the existing building, rezone the lot to residential use and construct a multifamily complex stalled, Saldin acquired the property in 2017 for $13 million, according to Fairfax County records.
Robert Seldin
Mission Lofts is Seldin’s second such development after the completion of E Lofts in Alexandria, less than 20 miles away from Falls Church. He says there are three more such projects anticipating local approval to begin construction nearby.
“We can soon have upwards of 700 more units of this product type, which I would say is a timely and important product brought into the Bailey’s Crossroads area,” which lies in an opportunity zone near Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington, Seldin says.
He envisions the live/work developments as pillars on which to create a flourishing and innovative business and lifestyle ecosystem in northern Virginia near Washington, D.C.
“That’s sort of an exciting thing to get to see and be a part of,” Seldin says.
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