Article Date: March 6, 2023
“I’m a value-add guy,” Marwaha said of his penchant for trying to buy properties on the cheap and bringing them up to market level. “EAB was leaving so the park was 100 percent vacant. That falls in my alley of value-add and I was able to buy the park at a discount.”
Upon closing the deal, he promptly rebranded the complex to Marwaha Business Park and wasted little time in trying to fill it.
He first moved his business there, with his firm Marwaha Investments taking 4,500 square feet in the building now known asMarwaha 3.
Then he scored his first big lease, one that he said let him know his bet on the office park wasn’t far-fetched.
ColonialWebb, a mechanical and electrical contractor that’s a subsidiary of Comfort Systems USA, is moving its local office hub to the park, taking the entirety of the 35,000-square-foot Marwaha 1 building on a 10-year lease.
“I knew I would be able to turn the campus around,” Marwaha said. “I bought it on Jan. 5 and within 30 days I was able to signColonialWebb. It’s proving that my gamble is worth it.”
For ColonialWebb, CFO Joe Piacentino said the new office will free up space at its current local home base at 2820 Ackley Ave., where it has a total of around 110,000 square feet. Of that, 25,000 square feet is currently offices, which will be converted into additional manufacturing and logistics space.
Piacentino said ColonialWebb has about 150 local employees and 800 total spanning through Northern Virginia, southern Maryland, Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, and Harrisonburg. The parent company Comfort Systems has 14,000 employees nationwide.
Piacentino said the company plans to move into the Marwaha building by the end of April.
With one of the three buildings filled, Marwaha said he’s working on the rest.
Around 30,000 square feet remain available in Marwaha 2, which he’s hoping to lease to a single tenant. And around 26,000 square feet is remaining in Marwaha 3, which will be a multi-tenant building including his firm.
Interest thus far has come from medical users and engineering and architecture firms.
(https://richmondbizsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/marwahabusinessparkinterior-1.jpg)
Marwaha said he plans to spend around $2 million over time to upgrade the campus.
Part of the upgrade was changing the park’s name. Marwaha said it’s less about seeing his name in large print than it was about sending a message to potential tenants.
“We want to tell the market that it’s under new management and ownership and we are here to make deals and fill the campus. I wanted to separate myself from the previous ownership.”
The seller was SIR Properties Trust, which had owned it since 2015 when it paid $12.75 million. Marwaha was represented in the acquisition by Commonwealth Commercial’s Tucker Dowdy and Michael Good.
Marwaha said he financed the purchase through Blue Ridge Bank.
The deal adds to Marwaha’s holdings in that section of Henrico. Just southeast from the business park he owns around 17 acres along Brook Road, much of which is contiguous and planned for future development.
He also owns dozens of single-family rental properties in the vicinity and dozens more around the region, with a concentration in eastern Henrico, Chesterfield, and Petersburg.
Petersburg has been a place of particular interest to Marwaha of late, as he spent nearly $9 million in the city last year to purchase a seven-story former bank building at 30 Franklin St.
(https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/07/27/investor-pads-petersburg-portfolio-
with-3m-building-buy/) and the Cameron Lofts building at 325 Brown St.
(https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/01/13/investor-snags-mixed-use-building-for-4m-amid-petersburg-buying-streak/)
Marwaha, who was born in India and moved to Richmond to attend VCU in 2006, said talks of a recession do have some lenders tightening up, but he plans to stay on the offensive with a focus on apartment buildings and office space.
He said he’s focused on Richmond, Petersburg, and Williamsburg and is beginning to look into Blacksburg and farther into Hampton Roads.
“I see this as an opportunity,” he said. “We are looking for deals every day.”
