Former Fannie Mae Headquarters in DC Gets $640M Redevelopment

Roadside Development and North America Sekisui House, LLC (NASH) will spend $640 million to redevelop a 10-acre property, which is the former Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington, D.C., in order to turn it into a one million-square-foot “City Ridge” mixed-use destination.

“City Ridge wasn’t designed to be another enclave of a residential community; it was designed to become an urban village which allows mixes of uses that drive and rely on each other,” said Richard Lake, principal and founding partner of Roadside Development.

The historic Fannie Mae site located at 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW was acquired by Roadside and NASH in 2016 for around $86 million. After creating a vision for the site, also involving the local community, the two joint venture partners made a plan to redevelop and reuse the existing 228,000-square-foot, Georgian Revival-style office building. Eight new structures will also be added to the site, modifying it as a live-work-play area.

“Fannie Mae had over 3,000 employees in this neighborhood and when they left, it created a sucking sound of energy out of the neighborhood. You could see it up and down Wisconsin; you could see other mercantile users suffer, because that daytime population has left the marketplace and is not coming back,” said Lake.

Lake stated that the void left in the marketplace was another reason why they thought this project would allow them to attract other services and enhance the quality of life of the neighborhood.

City Ridge will have about 100,000 square feet of premier office space in the new headquarters building. About 62,000 square feet of new office space will be developed in addition to 687 residential units, including an 86,000-square-foot Wegmans supermarket which will mark the debut of the chain in Washington, D.C.

Roadside and NASH will start work by demolishing the old buildings on the site. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.