Dec. 08, 2011--A 96-room Courtyard by Marriott will be built near the entrance of the Quantico Corporate Center in North Stafford.

North Dakota-based Tharaldson Motels Inc. recently bought a 2.7-acre parcel from an entity of QCC developer the Silver Cos. for $1.416 million.

Construction is expected to start this coming spring or summer, said David Newman, a Silver vice president who is handling leasing at the QCC off U.S. 1 near the Quantico Marine Corps Base. He said the hotel "will provide a tremendous benefit to the Quantico community and supporting businesses in the area."

A Fairfield Inn is now under construction a few miles south of the QCC on U.S. 1, and more hotel rooms are planned along that growing Stafford corridor.

In addition, The Columbia Group defense-contracting firm recently signed a lease for 6,415 square feet of space in the 140,000-square-foot office building under construction at the QCC. It's the third of that size at the development. The first two office buildings are fully leased by defense contractors. QinetiQ North America will lease about half of the new office building.

Another defense contractor, Patricio Enterprises, is now building a 30,000-square-foot office building at the QCC. Stafford County's Board of Supervisors recently allocated $237,000 from its Opportunity Fund toward a roughly 3,500-square-foot lease in one of the two new buildings.

That could be used for classroom space geared toward the defense and intelligence communities and be the first step toward a research and technology park at the QCC.

Steve Burman with Jones Lang LaSalle represented Columbia on the recent lease, and Silver Commercial Brokerage represented the landlord.

Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405 Email: [email protected]

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