Preiss, in partnership with FD Stonewater, is expanding its “Signature” student housing brand with two luxury developments near NC State and the University of Tennessee Knoxville, delivering more than 1,200 beds of high-end, tech-forward housing in two fast-growing university markets. Read on for more on the Fall 2027 developments and partnership....
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As GSA accelerates the disposition of underutilized Federal buildings, it should harness the full redevelopment potential of these assets. Read on as Norman Dong shares his perspective. ...
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As we close 2025, we reflect on a year defined by continued broader market volatility, as well as new and historic disruptions in the government real estate sector. In this environment, our focus remained on disciplined execution, risk management, and leadership—principles that allowed us to navigate uncertainty while maintaining stability across the business. Throughout the year, we acted early, adjusted quickly, and remained tightly aligne...
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FD Stonewater’s STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the “STAR Fund”) announced the acquisition of Alside Manufacturing and Distribution Center (“Alside”), a 326,474 square foot industrial facility leased to Associated Materials in Yuma, AZ. The Alside property was acquired through the STAR Fund’s UPREIT structure, providing original investors the opportunity to receive OP Units allowing for a tax deferred transaction. This is the third acq...
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The FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the "STAR Evergreen Fund") formally announced that John Spiegleman will join the fund's Advisory Committee. ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the "STAR Evergreen Fund") formally announced that John Spiegleman will join the fund's Advisory Committee, which reviews and opines on conflicts of interest related to the fund. The fund pursues a...
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The Federal Government is accelerating efforts to reduce its real estate footprint. GSA has aggressively moved to terminate leases, even before agencies complete their utilization assessments. Our latest analysis examines recent GSA lease terminations, their subsequent rescissions, and what agencies can do to advocate for their space needs. Read the full analysis and understand the shifting landscape of federal real estate management below. �...
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The Preiss Company (TPCO), a leading student housing owner, developer, and operator, and FD Stonewater (FDS), a vertically integrated real estate firm, proudly announce the acquisition and capitalization of two student housing development sites, one in Knoxville, Tenn., and the second in Raleigh, N.C. These notable projects, which will be developed in partnership with Monarch Alternative Capital, a global investment firm, underscore the compan...
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In many ways, 2024 was a rollercoaster ride. Throughout the year, our teams demonstrated exceptional resilience, creativity, and determination, tackling challenges (the “lows”) head-on, while also achieving significant success (the “highs”) across our business. By effectively leveraging our collective strengths and maintaining our disciplined approach, we navigated shifting market dynamics and emerging real estate trends with agility ...
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By Jeff Toporek Jeff Toporek is a Co-Founder and Principal at FD Stonewater, with over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate investing and capital markets. Jeff regularly appears on podcasts and is a frequent panel contributor at industry conferences. He has spent much of his career as an investment manager focused on single-tenant-occupied real estate, providing value-added solutions to our investors and tenants through active manage...
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By Norman Dong Overview In August, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a Management Procedures Memorandum on Building Occupancy Metrics. Consistent with the Congressional directive in the FY2024 Budget Agreement, the OMB memorandum establishes a space utilization standard of 150 SF per person and a minimum occupancy threshold of 60 percent for Federal buildings. In contrast to previous OMB directives, this latest guidance looks bey...
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FD Stonewater is pleased to announce that the firm’s leasing team has earned this year’s Washingtonian | CoStar Career Achievement Award in recognition of its accomplishments in government leasing. Washingtonian and CoStar joined in cosponsoring the Career Achievement Awards program to recognize multi-time winners of CoStar’s prestigious Power Broker Award—specifically, individuals and firms who have won a Power Broker Award at lea...
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FD Stonewater is pleased to announce a $20 million commitment to the firm’s discretionary FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the “STAR Fund”, the “Fund”) from a Top 125 U.S. corporate pension plan. “This is an exciting time for the STAR Fund, securing an anchor institutional investor of this magnitude and caliber,” Jeff Toporek, Principal and Co-Founder of FD Stonewater said. “Despite the most challenging capital ...
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By Norman Dong (FD Stonewater) and Robert Peck (Gensler) Overview In March, Congress approved appropriations bills to fund the Federal government for the remainder of FY2024. In a break from the past, where many agencies have seen increases in their annual budget from one year to the next, the enacted budget for FY2024 was largely flat compared to the prior year. Notably, the budgets for several agencies -- including FBI, ATF, EPA, and IRS �...
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While FD Stonewater was not immune to headwinds blowing across the commercial real estate sector, we continued to grow our core development, investment, and brokerage business lines while strategically expanding into new verticals. To weather the storm, we diversified, stayed disciplined, and focused on opportunities that demonstrated our strengths and integrated capabilities. Though we expect continued headwinds and challenging capital marke...
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By Joe Delogu, Founding Principal at FD Stonewater Recently, I had the privilege of joining Frank Smith, Deputy Executive Director for the Georgia State Properties Commission and Bruce Nelson, Executive Director of Real Estate Strategy, State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management on a webinar panel for the National Association of State Facilities Administrators (NASFA) titled The Looming Crisis in Commercial Real Estate (a description ...
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By Jeff Toporek and Owen Burke FD Stonewater has been actively engaged in the Property Technology (“proptech”) space since its founding and our company views our relationship to and intersection with technology as critical to our business. We firmly believe that technology strengthens our company, so we continually invest resources to implement the best tools possible. This has made us better and more efficient while enhancing our decision...
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This week Jeff Toporek, Co-Founder and Principal of Investment at FD Stonewater, was featured on two episodes of The Real Estate Syndication Show, hosted by Whitney Sewell. Watch the Podcast Episode 1 | Completing $8 Billion Acquisitions - In the first of two episodes, Jeff and Whitney discuss Jeff’s background, FD Stonewater’s evolution over the past 20 years, and how the firm has accomplished $8 billion+ in acquisitions and a...
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FD Stonewater announced today that Norman Dong has been promoted to Partner with the firm. Mr. Dong joined the company in 2017 as Managing Director and plays a leading role within the firm’s third-party advisory and principal development platforms with a primary focus on federal, state and local government real estate transactions. He is a nationally recognized expert in the government real estate arena and frequently participates in industr...
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By Norman Dong, Joe Delogu, and Chad Habeeb What Just Happened? GSA’s recently issued Asset Management Alert, which now requires Federal tenant agencies to sign non-cancellable Occupancy Agreements (OAs), is an unfortunate step in the wrong direction. Although the objective to mitigate the financial liability of vacant leased space makes sense, the Agency’s course of action does not. This recent GSA policy change will increase leasing co...
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Teamwork makes the dream work! Our FD Stonewater family united from across the country for our Annual Mid-Year Company-Wide Event! We kicked it off with an engaging Town Hall, discussing the latest market trends and showcasing our exciting initiatives and projects within our development, investment, and brokerage platforms. Then we embarked on an exciting day trip to Middleburg, VA, where we competed in an Amazing Nature Race at Salamander Resort...
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As we are in the midst of capital markets uncertainty, we wanted to share some of our current insights and opinions. Before the Silicon Valley Bank failure, the real estate market for debt and equity was still functioning albeit at lower volume levels. Only weeks later, many conversations with lenders, equity relationships, brokers, and investors suggest there has been significant degradation of capital flows, at least in part due to the Fed'...
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By Norman Dong, Joe Delogu, and Anita Molino Once again, the United States of America is facing the ominous threat of breaching the Federal debt ceiling in the coming months. As lawmakers stake out their positions on this evolving policy battlefield, there has been much speculation about the potential impact of a breach on the Federal Government and the overall economy. Here, we will examine the implications of a debt ceiling breach for owners a...
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FD Stonewater announced today that the firm has been awarded and signed a lease to develop a new regional headquarters facility to house the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) in downtown Mobile, AL. The development is expected to break ground within the next two months. USACE will relocate from their existing regional headquarters at 109 St. Joseph Street to a new approximately 190,000 square foot build-to-suit office building loc...
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By Norman Dong, Chad Habeeb, and Joe Delogu In his March 2022 State of the Union address, President Biden declared “It is time for America to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again with people. People working from home can feel safe and begin to return to their offices. The vast majority of Federal workers will once again work in person.” Since that time, the situation has largely remained unchanged with significan...
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Exciting news! One of our assets has been awarded the 2023 CoStar Impact Award for Lease of the Year in Richmond. Read all about it in the linked CoStar News article and discover how this achievement is making a positive impact on the city's commercial real estate market. Click here to read more. ...
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Check out this week’s episode of The Weekly Take featuring FD Stonewater Co-Founder and Principal Jeff Toporek! In this episode, Jeff provides insight into what it takes to raise capital, especially at a time of high market uncertainty, and shares how the firm’s investment strategy has evolved over the past 20 years. Thank you to Spencer Levy and JM Schapiro for an engaging discussion and for the opportunity! Click here to access the...
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The FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the “STAR Evergreen Fund”) formally announced Michael McNamara, Daniel Philips, and Nancy McGrath as initial members of the fund’s Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee’s primary role is to review and opine on conflicts of interest related to the fund. The fund launched in December 2022 to pursue a Single Tenant Active Return (STAR) strategy focused on assembling a diversified port...
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2022 was an extremely positive year for FD Stonewater. We continued to grow our core development, investment and brokerage business lines while expanding into new verticals where demand shows no sign of slowing, such as logistics, industrial, and multifamily. While diversifying, we remain disciplined, focusing on new opportunities that reflect our strengths and integrated capabilities. The outlook for 2023 is extremely bright as we continue to ca...
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FD Stonewater announced the first closing of the FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the "STAR Evergreen Fund") in the amount of $19 million, simultaneous with the acquisition of two seed assets. The fund closed on an 83,000 square foot mission critical research and development, office, and specialized manufacturing facility located adjacent to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. The building is 100% leased to a leading defense co...
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FD Stonewater announced today that the firm has launched a new value-add evergreen fund targeting single-tenant assets, FD Stonewater STAR Evergreen Fund, L.P. (the “STAR Evergreen Fund”). The fund will pursue a Single Tenant Active Return (STAR) strategy and will focus on assembling a diversified portfolio of mission-critical single-tenant real estate assets in U.S. secondary and tertiary markets and will be diversified across industrial...
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The DC region is facing a tsunami of federal shadow vacancy – vacant space not being captured in widely circulated market reports. In the aftermath of the pandemic, government agencies are swiftly adopting telework and aggressive flexible work policies. While some private sector companies are pulling back on telework initiatives, many federal agencies are doubling down by memorializing these benefits in union agreements and entrenching them int...
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Dan Cain has joined the firm as Executive Managing Director and will assume a leading role within the firm's Development platform, with a primary focus on expanding the company's logistics and industrial initiative. Prior to joining FD Stonewater, Dan was a Director at Matan Companies, a private commercial real estate investment fund with $1.4 billion AUM consisting of industrial, life sciences, multi-family, and office assets located in the M...
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Members from our development team joined representatives from the Borough of Somerville, emergency services chiefs, and Somerset County Commissioners to participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Somerville Emergency Services Facility. The 45,000 SF build-to-suit Emergency Services Facility will allow for a more centralized response, moving the Borough's fire companies, Police Headquarters, First Aid Squad, and Office of Emergency Man...
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Last week, the entire FD Stonewater team convened in DC for an All-Hands Company Event! Our employees traveled from around the country to participate in a series of team-building events. We kicked it off with a "town hall" presentation where different team members shared the company's YTD accomplishments and discussed the future for each of our business lines – brokerage, development, and investment. We also traveled to Annapolis for a fun day ...
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FD Stonewater recently completed the development of a 46,000 SF ground-up build-to-suit facility to house the Pennsylvania State Police in Skippack, PA. The three-building facility is located northwest of Philadelphia and consists of a police station, state-of-the-art training center, task areas, and an indoor firing range. After the lease award, FD Stonewater acquired the previously undeveloped land from the owner to subdivide a portion of the l...
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On May 16, 2022, members of our development team joined elected officials, representatives from VA Central Office, VA NJHCS, Ocean County, and local Veteran groups to participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Toms River VA Clinic. The new 68,000-square-foot clinic will serve the area’s Veteran population and will offer comprehensive medical care including primary health care, dental care, women’s health care, mental health cou...
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FD Stonewater has completed the acquisition of the Alside Distribution Center at 7550 East 30th Street in Yuma, Arizona. The 222,554 square foot, single-tenant manufacturing and distribution facility is 100% leased to Associated Materials, LLC, the parent company to the user Alside Window Company. The property was built-to-suit for Alside in 2005, and the long tenure at the property reflects the facility’s mission criticality to operations and ...
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FD Stonewater recently completed the phased redevelopment of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters on behalf of ownership. The two-building complex at 600-700 Army Navy Drive, also known as Lincoln Place, is a Class A, 511,000 square foot, highly-secure facility located in Arlington County’s Pentagon City neighborhood. FD Stonewater also represented ownership on the 15-year lease renewal for Lincoln Place in what was the l...
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FD Stonewater has completed the acquisition of 6000 Spine Road in Boulder, Colorado. The fully leased, 60,000-square foot, office building is located in Gunbarrel Business Park and surrounded by numerous Fortune 500 companies in the life science and technology industries. Despite market uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Boulder’s office market has remained resilient, largely due to stable and diverse economic drivers, high barriers to entr...
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FD Stonewater has completed the acquisition of the Harvey | Harvey-Cleary headquarters, a 55,624-square foot, Class A suburban office building in Houston’s Westchase submarket. The headquarters property is 100% leased to Harvey | Harvey-Cleary, a privately held, full-service general contractor with offices in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Washington, DC. The 15-year sale-leaseback was completed as part of FD Stonewater’s single-tenant inv...
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By Norman Dong | Managing Director at FD Stonewater Federal agencies are facing significant uncertainty about their space and facilities needs in the aftermath of the pandemic. Does the recent increase in telework reflect a temporary accommodation to get through the current public health crisis, or a more permanent way of doing business? After a decade of reducing agency space utilization, has the time come to reverse course to allow for more sp...
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FD Stonewaterhas been recognized in the 2020 Greater Washington Area Best Places to Work, an awards program presented by the Washington Business Journal. FD Stonewater landed at number four on the list of mid-sized companies in the region. Select employers from the Greater Washington Area were named winners of the awards program and were honored during a virtual event held on August 27, 2020. The winning organizations were recognized for...
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Portland, ME – July 22, 2020 – FD Stonewater, J.B. Brown & Sons, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently held an official groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC), located at 141 West Commercial Street in Portland, Maine. Once opened, the clinic will replace and consolidate the existing leases at the Saco and Portland CBOC locations, without disruption of care and ser...
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By Norman Dong | Managing Director at FD Stonewater As the nation continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, and with much of the country on lockdown, it may seem like we are living in unprecedented times. There are many open questions about the current public health situation, the outlook on the U.S. economy, and the capacity of the Federal Government to address these challenges. But there is some historical precedent for the magnitude of natio...
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FD Stonewater has been recognized as a winner of the 2019 Greater Washington Area Best Places to Work, an awards program presented by the Washington Business Journal. Select employers from the Greater Washington Area were named winners of the awards program and were honored during an event held on May 16, 2019. The winning organizations were recognized for their exceptional workplaces, comprehensive and creative benefits, and commitm...
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FD Stonewater announced today that the company recently completed the disposition of a single-tenant property located on the grounds of the Grand Junction Regional Airport in Grand Junction, CO. The company acquired the property in a joint venture along with P&L Properties and Lynxs Group in April 2015 as part of the firm’s single-tenant strategy. The facility was fully leased at the time of acquisition on a long-term net basis. ...
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FD Stonewater announced today it has completed the acquisition of Aramark’s Global Business Center, an 89,000-square foot office building in Nashville, TN. The building is 100% leased to Aramark, (NYSE: ARMK) a publicly-traded global food services, facilities management, and uniform services provider and full-building occupant since 2013. The acquisition was completed within FD Stonewater’s stabilized asset, secondary market investment strate...
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Until Friday's temporary fix for the partial federal government shutdown, the General Services Administration, the government's in-house real estate services/design and construction/facilities management/bill payer was on the verge of freaking out. I imagine some lessors were about to lose it, too. The GSA pays the rent for government agencies, including the FBI, which leases its whole 110,000-square-foot Oklahoma City field office building...
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By Norman Dong Managing Director at FD Stonewater, NFDA Board Member At Day 33 of the Federal Shutdown, which is now the longest shutdown in U.S. history, owners and investors of property leased to the Federal Government continue to wonder whether the Government will be able to pay its January rent payments that are due in early February. This concern is not lost on GSA, as reflected in a recent statement posted on its website: �...
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By Norman Dong Partner at FD Stonewater Annual funding for a significant part of the Federal Government, including GSA, expired on December 21, 2018, resulting in the current government shutdown. Because the GSA Public Building Service receives funding that can be carried over from one year to the next, GSA was able to utilize carryover funds to continue its real estate functions beyond December 21 and support ongoing operations, including sa...
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Arlington, VA – November 20, 2018 – FD Stonewater announced today that the firm will once again represent ownership, this time as a development manager, for the redevelopment of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Headquarters complex at Lincoln Place. The DEA recently committed to a 15-year follow on lease at the two-building complex, a highly secure facility situated in Arlington County’s Pentagon City neighborhood. DEA remains...
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Arlington, VA – September 24, 2018 – FD Stonewater announced today that it successfully represented building ownership in securing a long-term lease renewal with the General Services Administration (GSA) for 511,000 square feet, in what is the largest Northern Virginia federal leasing deal this year. The transaction was completed for a two-building complex, known as Lincoln Place; a highly secure facility situated in Arlington County’s Pent...
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Arlington, VA – July 23, 2018: FD Stonewater announced that it has recently been awarded two new development deals, both for specialized healthcare facilities housing federal tenants. The new projects represent the most recent successes for the firm’s expanding federal development and construction management platform. The first award was for a 15-year lease by the General Services Administration (GSA) to house the United States Air Force in B...
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Arlington-based real estate firm FD Stonewater has long been known for leasing government-occupied properties in the Washington area and purchasing office portfolios that offer potential for significant reinvestment. But over the past two years, the company has turned its attention to buying office buildings it considers "stabilized" — think properties with high-profile tenants under long-term leases that generate steady rents. ...
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Arlington, VA – May 24, 2018 – FD Stonewater announced today it has completed the acquisition of SunTrust Center I & II, a 420,000-square foot, Class A suburban office campus located in Richmond, VA. The buildings are 100% leased and benefit from the successes of the Innsbrook office submarket and the nearby Short Pump retail corridor. The acquisition was completed within FD Stonewater’s stabilized asset, secondary market investment str...
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The FD Stonewater development team, along with Maine Governor Paul LePage, helped ceremonially break ground for a new office building for more than 500 state employees in the Department of Health and Human Services. The building is the first major addition to Maine’s State House complex since the 1970s and is slated for completion in summer 2019. http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/12/08/lepage-leads-groundbreaking-for-new-augus...
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Norman Dong, managing director at FD Stonewater, discusses evolving trends and potential practices in federal government real estate with Government Matters host Francis Rose Click here to watch the video...
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Arlington, VA – September 26, 2017 – FD Stonewater announced today it has recently completed construction of an 151,066-square foot build-to-suit facility which is under a long-term lease to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for use by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The lease contract total value is $101M. The project was completed on time and on budget and is situated on 13 acres of land ground-leased from Mercer Uni...
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A San Francisco real estate investor has paid $80 million for a State Street office building, betting it can find new tenants to fill a large vacancy. Shorenstein Properties today said it has acquired the 533,000-square-foot office portion of 1 N. State St., connected towers of 11 and 16 stories. The statement did not name a sale price, which someone familiar with the deal said is almost $80 million. The sale does not include retail ...
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FD Stonewater announced today that effective July 17, 2017, Norman Dong, the former Commissioner for the United States General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, will be joining the firm as Managing Director. Mr. Dong will assume a leading role within the firm’s Federal Government real estate third-party advisory and principal development platforms. Mr. Dong has a distinguished history working in both the private sector and as a...
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Arlington, VA – Tim Lenahan has joined FD Stonewater as a Managing Director of Government Leasing. At FD Stonewater, Tim will bring his 13 years of experience in the government real estate sector to advising the firm’s 3rd party landlord clients on transacting business with government entities and will also support the company’s own principal development efforts in the government arena. Prior to joining FD Stonewater, Tim was a First Vice P...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced today it has completed the acquisition of a Class A, 164,845-square foot multi-tenant office building located at 1007 Church Street in downtown Evanston, Illinois. The iconic building was designed by world-class architect Helmut Jahn and is located less than one block from the Davis Street Station (Metra and CTA) and approximately 13 miles from Chicago’s CBD. The property – 79% leased upon acquisition...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced that it has been awarded the exclusive rights to negotiate a 30-year lease contract with the State of Maine Bureau of General Services (BGS) for the purchase and redevelopment of the Maine DOT 109 Capitol Street in Augusta, ME. The parcel consists of 9.2± acres with eight connecting buildings and other out-buildings situated two blocks from the State Capitol. The existing structures on site would be demo...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced today that effective January 1, 2016 William Magner joined the firm’s Board of Advisors and will be actively involved in the organization’s continued expansion. In particular, Bill will assist with growing the investor base within the firm’s nationwide principal investment and development platforms. Mr. Magner has a distinguished history in the commercial real estate industry having most recently se...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced today the sale of a four-building portfolio, each fully leased by the Federal Government. The portfolio consists of two Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) facilities located in Jacksonville and Riviera Beach, Florida; a U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPS) facility in Nashville, Tennessee; and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Cary, NC. The portfolio was purchased by Boyd W...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced today it has completed the acquisition of a single-tenant property located in Cantera, a 650-acre mixed-use commercial development in Warrenville, IL. The Class A building consists of 136,000 square feet of office space on 19 acres of land with an above-market parking ratio. The building is fully leased to a subsidiary of a top Global Fortune 500 company and is replete with a high-tech creative office bui...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater and Lynxs Group announced today they had completed the acquisition of a single-tenant property located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The multi-purpose industrial hangar and office facility is located within the airport grounds of the Grand Junction Regional Airport, and is fully leased to a single-tenant with a long-term lease. The transaction exemplifies FD Stonewater’s strategy of acquiring single-tenant, missio...
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Arlington, VA – FD Stonewater announced today it has closed on the acquisition of a single-tenant property located in Nashville, TN. The transaction exemplifies one of FD Stonewater’s platform strategies; namely, acquiring single-tenant, mission-critical facilities nationwide. The company has acquired and developed in excess of $275 million of these types of assets encompassing more than 2.8 million square feet. The 123,000-square foot bui...
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