This is a case study that's a part of the 2021 REIT Industry ESG Report, an annual report detailing the REIT industry's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance details in the publicly traded U.S. REIT industry. Featured case studies showcase REIT leadership and ESG innovation from a variety of sectors and serve as a practical tool for stakeholders to assess the scale and impact of the REIT industry's ESG commitments and initiatives.
National Landing is a large-scale repositioning of three Northern Virginia neighborhoods just outside Washington, D.C. and minutes from the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport. In 2018, Amazon chose the neighborhood for its second headquarters (HQ2) and Virginia Tech elected to open a $1 billion Innovation Campus in adjacent Potomac Yard, cementing the market's status as an up-and-coming technology hub. JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS) helped facilitate these transactions, controls the majority of the existing and developable space, and is the master developer responsible for establishing the neighborhood as a smart city and innovation district.
In National Landing, JBG SMITH is intensely focused on physical placemaking, cultivating a vibrant, amenity-rich, and walkable mixed-use neighborhood for people who live, work, play, and learn there.
To couple its investments in physical placemaking, JBG SMITH continues to develop comprehensive "digital placemaking" strategies, including curation of world-class connectivity infrastructure to create a canvas of innovation. JBG SMITH is currently working to coordinate the deployment of ubiquitous 5G—the first of its kind at scale—underpinned by a robust and redundant fiber network. The company also recently acquired seven blocks of CBRS spectrum for innovative private network uses in National Landing (and in Arlington and Alexandria more broadly), and are in discussions with leading operators to bring edge data centers to the market.
"In National Landing, we are creating a Smart City from the ground up, starting with robust, world-class connectivity infrastructure. By laying a strong foundation with partners, we will create a canvas for innovative and real-time building data monitoring that's unlike any other."
Vardahn Chaudhry, Vice President of Smart Cities
This digital placemaking will be the foundation for urban innovation in buildings, public spaces, and the neighborhood at large. In addition to delivering a differentiated consumer experience and achieving operational efficiencies, JBG SMITH is committed to leveraging digitization to usher in a new era of health, wellness, and sustainability in the built environment.
As JBG SMITH embarks on this journey, it is focused on:
- Creating of a "Hub of Innovation," as the neighborhood is designed to attract best-in-class service providers, partners, entrepreneurs, universities, and technology companies to innovate new products and services in AI, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, and IoT in a highly connected environment.
- Establishing a "Smart City" environment, wherein spaces are activated with technology in order to improve tenant engagement, and create a unique and differentiated live, work, play, and learn experience.
- Taking a data-driven approach to building efficiency, spanning lighting, water, and power, as well as enhanced building and waste management features that automate and optimize sustainability programs across the neighborhood.
- Testing, iterating, and scaling solutions, as they deploy technology across the National Landing neighborhood, and subsequently scale across their portfolio.
JBG SMITH expects its Smart City investments will continue to attract leading companies and consumers to this innovation district, while also advancing the organization's sustainability strategy.
JBG SMITH is an S&P 400 company that owns, operates, invests in, and develops a dynamic portfolio of high-growth mixed-use properties in and around Washington, D.C.