In background of potential Nats sale, Lerners face uncertain real estate market

WASHINGTON - In the 1960s, local real estate agent and up-and-coming developer Theodore N. Lerner began buying hundreds of acres of farmland in Fairfax County Va.

"I knew the Beltway was coming and thought it would be a great location for a mall," Lerner later explained to author Russ Banham. Lerner saw something others didn't, and the payoff was huge. The mall he envisioned, Tysons Corner Center, opened in 1968 and ushered in an era of suburban development that made him billions.

Following the announcement Monday that Lerner and his family will consider selling the Washington Nationals - something his son Mark vowed never to do - it's unclear what Lerner sees around the corner this time, and what it says about the family's current financial standing. But it comes at a time of great uncertainty for the industry in which Lerner made his fortune.

Vacancy rates in shopping centers and office buildings, two staples of the Lerner commercial real estate empire, were already edging up in 2020 before ballooning during the pandemic, forcing building owners to make difficult choices managing loans and leases.

The Lerners have not been immune, as the family watched assessments of some of its properties fall dramatically, has been slow to redevelop others and gave up its stake in the Dulles Town Center mall in northern Virginia under pressure from banks.

The reasons for the Lerners' decision to consider selling the team remain murky. The family has hired an investment bank to manage the process and says it is open to selling all or part of its stake. The team issued a statement to The Post on Monday saying the family real estate empire "continues to thrive."

Messages left this week with executives and staff at the Rockville, Md., headquarters of Lerner Enterprises, a notoriously...