Development 101
An Overview of the Commercial Development Process
Overview
NAIOP Northern Virginia has designed a basic course for real estate professionals from NAIOP member companies who want to learn how fundamental real estate decisions are made. During seven sessions, the course will examine the real estate development process from a practitioner’s perspective – and will show how successful developers actually think about and solve problems. A specific development site is the focus of the seminars.
For the 2026 class, the specific development site we’ll use is BXP’s Reston Town Center Next – Block A & B, our official case study. This project is the first phase of the next chapter of Reston Town Center: two 28‑story, trophy office towers totaling roughly 1.1 million square feet of premier workplace space, with street‑level retail and direct access to the Reston Town Center Silver Line Metro station. The towers are leased to leading tenants and anchored by major corporations, illustrating current market demand for high‑quality, transit‑oriented development. In class, we’ll apply the concepts from each session directly to this project’s design, leasing strategy, and urban context to understand what made this development successful in today’s competitive CRE landscape.
Topics
What you will learn:
Module I: The Development Process & Entitlements
- The Development Process
- Site Acquisition
- Entitlements
- Permits
Module II: Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Finance Overview
- Investment Analysis
- Lender & Developer Perspectives
- Underwriting Strategies
- Case Study
Module III: Real Estate Development
- Project Conception
- Site Acquisition
- Project Feasibility
- Market Analysis
- Project Pro Forma
Module IV: The Design Process
- Land Planning
- The Design Process
- Scheduling/Budgeting
- Managing Design Professionals
Module V: Construction
- Contracting Methods
- Construction Team/Coordination
- Pre-construction, Estimating, Bidding
- Project Management
Module VI: Marketing and Leasing
- Defining the Assignment
- Assembling a Team
- Selling the Project
- Space Planning
Module VII: Site Tour
- Project Tour
- Lessons Learned
Schedule
8:00 AM Breakfast and Networking
8:30 AM Class
10:30 AM Adjourn
NAIOP Development 101 2026 class will be held on the following dates:
Dates are: January 21, February 4, February 12, March 5, March 18, April 1, April 15.
Location
Balfour Beatty Construction
3180 Fairview Park Drive
Falls Church, Virginia 22042
Click for Directions
Registration
$1000 Members
$1250 Non-Members
Registration is closed. Please email Kathy D'Amato at NAIOP for additional information.
Development 101 is chaired by Guy Jeffress, Shareholder, Vanderpool, Frostick, and Nishanian, P.C.
