Developer behind Amazon's HQ2 hires new CFO

Dive Brief:

D.C.-area developer JBG SMITH, who Amazon tapped in 2018 to help build out its Northern Virginia HQ2, appointed Moina Banerjee, a 10-year veteran of the company, as CFO.
"We are thrilled to welcome Moina to her new position," JBG SMITH CEO Matt Kelly said in a statement. "Her extensive investment, finance, and portfolio management experience, combined with Steve's expert guidance over the last four years, have more than prepared her for the CFO role."
Banerjee will succeed retiring CFO Steve Theriot on January 1.

Dive Insight:

In November 2018, Amazon announced it had chosen National Landing in Arlington to be its second headquarters, or "HQ2." As part of that agreement, Amazon purchased land owned by JBG SMITH and, with the company as its development partner, will build a four-million square campus. Construction began in January 2019, and is set to conclude in 2023.

The Washington, D.C. metro area "historically has fared better than other major U.S. cities during economic downturns," in commercial real estate, Banerjee told CFO Dive in an email. "And we are seeing that trend play out again in 2020."

The entire region, and National Landing in particular, has benefited from the steady presence of government agencies and a highly-motivated workforce, which is fueling the rapid expansion of innovation economy tenants like Amazon, she said.

Banerjee said JBG SMITH and Amazon's long-term plans for National Landing are undeterred by the pandemic.

"We are moving full steam ahead on Amazon's future National Landing headquarters," she said. "We are making steady progress on the design and approvals for the remaining portions of their four million square foot project. Additionally, Amazon has publicly committed to continue its hiring efforts and investment strategy in National Landing despite the unexpected obstacles 2020 presented."

As a sign of JBG SMITH's "continued bullishness" on the National Landing property, Banerjee said, it has recently acquired another development site located directly across the street from Amazon's future headquarters.

"Overall, we have a strong balance sheet and nearly $2 billion of liquidity," she said. "We have been able to consistently collect more than 98% of our office and residential rents throughout the pandemic, and have been working diligently with smaller, non-credit tenants on a case-by-case basis to help them survive until sales return to more stable levels."

While the economic fallout of the pandemic will likely continue to adversely impact business in the short-term, she said, the company remains focused on advancing its growth plans in National Landing, "with a special emphasis on entitling valuable development opportunities in our land bank, which will position us to further capitalize on the tremendous investments being made by both the public and private sectors in National Landing."

The D.C.-based company owns 6.2 million square feet of office space and 2,850 multifamily units and controls over 7 million square feet of additional development opportunities in the National Landing area, excluding Amazon's land purchase.

In addition to the ground-up development, Amazon also initially agreed to lease 537,000 square feet of space in existing JBG SMITH office buildings, a figure that has since grown to 857,000 square feet. Last week, the company announced it had completed renovations to another property, 1770 Crystal Drive, and that Amazon had moved in.