CREBA recognizes TMG’s Katie Yanushonis with Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award and TMG for Virginia Leasing Transaction of the Year
TMG has been honored with two coveted awards from the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association (CREBA): TMG Senior Vice President Katie Yanushonis received the 2023 Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award, and TMG was awarded the 2023 CREBA Virginia Leasing Transaction of the Year for the Arcfield lease at Plaza East.
TMG, a real estate investment and development firm formerly known as The Meridian Group, was presented with the honors during the CREBA Awards ceremony last week in Washington.
“We want to thank CREBA for once again recognizing TMG for our leadership, innovation, teamwork and success,” said Mark King, President and Chief Operating Officer of TMG, which was named Best Developer by CREBA two years ago. “These awards inspire us to continue developing unparalleled destinations to live and work in the DC area and beyond.”
Plaza East
Yanushonis won the highly regarded Brendan McCarthy Memorial Award, which recognizes “the CREBA member who best personifies the selfless qualities closely identified with the life and career of Brendan McCarthy,” including “unselfishness, caring and giving of oneself to help others.”
Yanushonis, who oversees the leasing platform of TMG’s 5.6-million-square-foot office portfolio, earned the award for her invaluable leadership both inside and outside of TMG.
Yanushonis manages landlord and tenant broker relationships and leads all proposal and lease negotiations on TMG’s behalf. In addition, she works closely with investment teams to ensure each building’s leasing strategy remains consistent with TMG’s overall business plan, resulting in over 200 completed transaction totaling more than 2.5 million square feet. As head of TMG’s DEI committee, Yanushonis is committed to promoting and enhancing a diverse and inclusive working environment at the firm. She also is very involved with Project Destined, a program that provides students with training, networking, mentorship, jobs and internships.
Outside of TMG, Yanushonis’ leadership is seen in her extensive involvement in the community. An alumnus of Georgetown University, she serves on the Steers Real Estate Advisory Board and works with the university’s WIRE (Women in Real Estate) program. Yanushonis also sits on the board of CREBA, acts as a mentor in the Urban Land Institute’s Washington Mentorship Program, works with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and serves on the Leukemia Ball Executive Committee. Yanushonis also has spent numerous hours volunteering with Jubilee Housing, a non-profit that provides housing to economically disadvantaged families in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
“Katie has had a tremendously positive impact on our firm and the community for years,” said Gary Block, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at TMG. “She is an extraordinary leader, an outstanding mentor, a tireless volunteer and an inspiration to all of us.”
TMG was awarded the Virginia Leasing Transaction of the Year for the Arcfield lease at Plaza East, a 247,000-square-foot, Class A office complex comprising two buildings in Chantilly, Va.
When TMG acquired Plaza East in April 2021, the complex was 100% leased thanks to a recently signed deal with Perspecta for 124,400 square feet. Just weeks later, Perspecta was acquired by Peraton. With Peraton’s expansive real estate footprint in the DC area, there was uncertainty around its need for the newly acquired space at Plaza East. In December 2021, Peraton announced it had signed a lease in Reston Town Center, ultimately leaving the space at Plaza East leased but not utilized.
While the Peraton space was leased through 2030, TMG did not want the space to go unoccupied. At the same time, Peraton wanted to dispose of this large lease liability on its books. So together, they started marketing the space both via sublease and direct lease, and Arcfield signed on through 2036.
The key players in the deal included Yanushonis at TMG; Matt Gallagher, Matt Owens and John Dragelin at JLL; and Brian Heatherington and Mike Christian at Cushman & Wakefield.
“With three parties involved, the Arcfield lease represented one of the largest and most complicated deals in Northern Virginia in 2023,” Yanushonis said. “But thanks to the collaborative efforts and dedication of our teams, it became one of the most successful deals of the year as well.”
ABOUT TMG
TMG (The Meridian Group) is a real estate investment management and development firm headquartered in Bethesda, Md., with an office in Dallas. Since its inception in 1993, TMG has acquired and developed millions of square feet of premier office, residential, industrial, hotel and mixed-use projects. The national firm invests in a broad spectrum of property types and is strategically expanding into new markets across the country. To learn more, visit TMG’s website at www.tmgdc.com.
