Merrifield’s office market, with its concentration of healthcare, professional and business, and defense sectors, has struggled this cycle, like most suburban submarkets in the metro. Exxon Mobil’s relocation of its Fairfax operations to Houston in 2015 caused vacancies to spike, and while the submarket has since recovered, vacancies are still slightly above the metro average. Merrifield is far from thriving; many office tenants have been leaving for areas like Reston or Tysons, slowing the submarket’s rent growth and construction; however, the submarket recently received welcome news in the form of new leases and company expansions. As of mid- October, volume in Merrifield for 2018 was less than $10 million. At about $159 million, sales were strong in 2017 but failed to match the levels reached earlier this cycle.
