Catons Crossing enlargement begins

By Elisa Glushefski

Published: October 10, 2008

Groundwork has started on a 200-unit apartment complex that will be part of a larger Catons Crossing development in Woodbridge, according to the Texas-based developer constructing the project.

And it has started despite a tumultuous housing market and economy.

Crews were at the site off Caton Hill Road on Friday, moving ground for the project that will include six four-story buildings with elevators, a clubhouse and a pool, said Martin Mankowski, a development manager at Fairfield Resi-dential LLC's Bethesda, Md., office.

"The whole market, all the spectrum, is impacted by the current economic downturn," Mankowski said. "We've had this project in the works for several years and made the decision this summer to move forward with it."

Construction will begin with the clubhouse and will move in sequence, Mankowski said Friday. The hopes are to have the last building finished by spring or summer 2010.

In May, construction finished on Catons Crossing's anchor "Class A" office building that now houses the Engineering Groupe, which developed the project.

That allowed construction to begin on apartment complex, said Johnny Groupe, a managing member of Catons Ridge Office Park LLC.

Groupe said government contractors, as well as companies in the medical field and universities, have shown interest in leasing space in the four-story building.

"Right now we're just an office building, but you've got to start somewhere," Groupe said, standing outside the finished office building. "I think it has the potential to be just phenome-nal."

Construction won't begin on the next office space, he said, until 50 percent is leased.

But the infrastructure for the mixed-use development—familiar to many as Catons Ridge—is finished and ready for when that time comes, he said.

At build-out, the 30-acre upscale development will boast 10 buildings that will make up more than 410,000 square feet of office and retail space, according to the Catons Crossing Web site. One of the buildings will be a restaurant, bank or daycare.

The vision is to have a scaled-down town center with a scenic Main Street that will invite people to stroll down to one of the planned ground-level shops, take their dog for a walk and enjoy the convenience of having work next to home, Groupe said.

"We want it to be a place [for people] to live, work and play," he said.

Staff writer Elisa Glushefski can be reached at 703-878-8062.