Each of the 174 units at Federal Realty’s PerSei rental property was built with a specific type of tenant in mind.
The building, the first apartments to be delivered as a result of the 2010 White Flint Sector Plan, will also be the first test of the residential market for the Rockville-based developer’s massive Pike & Rose project.
The building is pre-leasing now and will be ready for move-in in May. Evan Goldman, development vice president for Federal Realty, is providing media tours of the soon-to-be-finished four-story building on Old Georgetown Road.
“This unit, if I had to guess, with the two separate bedrooms on either side would end up being two guys or two women in their 20s or early 30s who want to be right in the middle of it all,” said Goldman, showing a corner unit across the street from a future outdoor bar space, music venue, gym and movie theater. “Our sense is the units in the middle of the action will be a little bit louder.”
The one- and two-bedroom units will be priced from $1,800-$4,000 a month, similar and slightly cheaper than the luxury highrise Pallas project underway two blocks over.
The entire Pike & Rose project will include roughly 1,500 residential units, 430,000 square feet of retail space, 1.1 million square feet of office space and a 350-room hotel. Phase 1, which includes PerSei, will be delivered later this year.
“I think it will set the bar for the new units in the area,” Goldman said.
The apartments on and overlooking the courtyard pool area will have balconies, as well as some of the units on the outside.
From one vantage point overlooking Old Georgetown Road, Goldman pointed out how the realigned Executive Boulevard will travel through the parking lot at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center and lead to a new Wall Park.
The new apartment will be in on the ground floor of White Flint redevelopment. Sector Plan-inspired projects planned for White Flint Mall, at the LCOR site across Rockville Pike and the Metro Pike Shopping Center still must go through the county approval process. JBG’s North Bethesda Market development, the first part of which was built under previous master planning, still awaits the start of development on future residential towers.
Federal Realty has been marketing the PerSei through a website, social media campaign and at events such as the Pike Central Farm Market. Goldman said the most popular unit by far has been the large corner one with 15-foot high ceilings that will overlook a future pedestrian retail area.
In a one-bedroom unit overlooking Rockville Pike, the tenant will be able to see the White Flint Metro station.
“There will be an elevator right here. People think about if you can cut two or three minutes off your walk or commute based on where you are in the building,” Goldman said.
Goldman’s team also decided to take advantage of the view with a large balcony space capable of holding eight or nine guests. He also already envisioned exactly the type of person who would live there.
“This is where on a Saturday night, you’re having friends over, sitting outside, there’s a football game on and you’re having a great time,” Goldman said. “This is kind of the perfect unit for a bachelor or bachelorette. We thought about who would be in these units.”
