Berkadia Arranges $114M for Rushmark's Falls Church Metro Project

Berkadia arranged $114 million in debt and equity for Rushmark Properties to build a 305-unit, seven-story apartment building one block from the West Falls Church Metro station, according to Berkadia’s announcement. The package pairs a $92 million senior construction loan from PNC with $22 million in preferred equity from FCP, a subsidiary of Federated Hermes. FCP’s own release independently confirms its $22 million piece and names Rushmark as developer. Berkadia put total project cost at $136 million and the opening at 2028.

Why it matters

The story is the capital stack, not the amenities. On the figures Berkadia disclosed, a $92 million senior loan against a $136 million cost works out to roughly 68 percent senior leverage. Add the $22 million of preferred equity and third-party capital covers about 84 percent of the project, leaving Rushmark with thin sponsor equity, on the order of $22 million, or roughly 16 percent of cost. Berkadia’s announcement quotes its DC Metro team, led by Patrick McGlohn and Brian Crivella, saying capital is available but lenders and equity investors “remain highly selective.” This deal is what selective looks like in practice: an established local sponsor, a site one block from a Metro station, and a stack built almost entirely on other people’s money. Developers underwriting their own projects right now should read the leverage ratio, not the finishes, as the signal.

The numbers

FCP’s PR Newswire release independently confirms its $22 million contribution and the 305-unit, seven-story design; the $92 million PNC loan and $136 million total cost come from Berkadia’s announcement alone. Berkadia states the units will average about 878 square feet across one and two-bedroom layouts, also unverified beyond the release. The building sits inside a larger master plan spanning Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church; a related WMATA announcement puts the Metro-owned parcel at 24 acres, with apartments and townhomes eventually joining retail and office space. A 2024 WMATA study, confirmed directly on WMATA’s site, found Metro station areas hold 3 percent of the region’s land but account for about 30 percent of regional property value ($330 billion), 30 percent of tax revenue ($3.2 billion) and 40 percent of jobs, the backdrop Berkadia cites for betting on transit-adjacent multifamily development.

What’s next

Berkadia’s Falls Church and Vienna market figures, rent growth above 4 percent in 2025 after above 5 percent in 2024, plus household incomes above $150,000 and home values above $800,000, come from its own release and are unverified. Terms beyond what Berkadia disclosed, including pricing on the PNC loan and structure of the FCP equity, were not released. WMATA says the broader redevelopment will bring townhomes ahead of the 2028 apartment opening.