Mortgage rates little changed

Long-term borrowing costs show little sign of movement, with the average rate on a 30-year mortgage up only slightly this week.

Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) says a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.67 percent in the week ending April 16, up from 3.66 percent last week. A year ago, 30-year rates averaged 4.27 percent.

A 15-year fix averaged 2.94 percent this week, up from 2.93 percent. A one-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.46 percent, up from 2.44 percent.

The Commerce Department Thursday…

COPT expands its Northern Virginia office portfolio with $83M buy

Corporate Office Properties Trust has expanded its Northern Virginia portfolio with the acquisition of Metro Place II in Merrifield, for $83 million, or $345 per square foot.

The 240,000-square-foot building is 100 percent leased. Tenants include The Boeing Co., which leases more than half the building, ActioNet, TASC and HDR Engineering.

Metro Place II is one of only two Class A office buildings within a quarter of a mile of the Dunn Lorring-Merrifield Metro stop.

The 10-story building is at…

Geico moves training facility to Ashburn

Insurance giant Geico will relocate its Northern Virginia claims training center from Tysons Corner to Ashburn, with plans to occupy a 32,675-square-foot, single-story building.

The build-to-suit project, at 20193 Ashbrook Place, will be part of Merritt Properties’ Ashbrook Business Park. Geico will own both the building and the 3 acres of land it will be built on.

Akridge will represent Geico during development and construction.

The building will include several classrooms for claims adjuster…

Massive Tysons project rebranded, final development plans filed

One of the few massive Tysons overhauls remaining in the Fairfax County pipeline has a new name and a clear vision for the initial phases of development.

The Bethesda-based Meridian Group, which acquired the four-building SAIC (NYSE: SAIC) campus in July 2013, has rechristened the redeveloped 18-acre site as “The Boro,” leaving behind the name Greensboro Place. The campus, bounded by Leesburg Pike, Greensboro Drive and Solutions Drive, is located almost entirely within a quarter mile of the Greensboro…

Thompson Creek Window is making a major investment in suburban Maryland

You’ve heard the jingle, maybe even had the company’s employees out to your house. Now Thompson Creek Window Co. is planning to make a new home, sweet home for itself in suburban Maryland.

The Lanham-based home improvement firm is teaming up with Hanover, Maryland-based Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC to break ground later this month on a new 117,000-square-foot production facility at the former Murry’s Inc. site in Upper Marlboro. Thompson Creek looked at other prospective sites across the region,…