Prince George’s County Westphalia development, one of the larger planned communities in Greater Washington, remains viable, its management says, though it realized no revenue from contracts throughout 2021.
The Westphalia Development Corp., an affiliate of Calgary, Alberta-based Walton Global Holdings Ltd., owns 310 acres in Upper Marlboro, just northwest of Joint Base Andrews. Its experience has been something of a saga over the years, with part of its property going to homebuilders, another part almost but not quite going to Amazon.com Inc. for a fulfillment center, an unrealized retail-centered Plan B, and the company flirting with default in 2017.
The corporation didn’t sell any lots last year and realized no revenue in Q4 2021, according to a quarterly report published last week. It also renegotiated debt with lender WWMN LLC and has begun seeking “an additional short-term loan.” That shouldn’t raise any alarms, as the company isn’t in dire financial straits, David Peter, an executive vice president at Walton, told the Washington Business Journal Tuesday.
The corporation doesn’t sell real estate on a regular basis, he said. Even though no transactions were realized last year, two “significant” deals are pending, he said, with expectations of closing this year and next, though he didn’t expound.
The report’s mention of debt renegotiation reflected a run-of-the-mill refinancing, he added.
Under its existing conceptual site plan, the 32.3 million-square-foot Westphalia would be built out with between 200,000 and 1 million square feet of retail, up to 5.5 million square feet of commercial office and employment uses (including the fulfillment center), 600 hotel rooms and 5,000 residential units.
The company will soon launch public outreach to “reimagine” the project’s retail and commercial components, weighing changing demand due to Covid and how the county government’s high-level planning has evolved, he said. He believes the property remains “well located,” if not as much of a transit hub as originally conceived. Read more articles like this at Washington Business Journal.
