This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
A 98% affordable mixed-use apartment building in Shaw officially opened Thursday, marked by a ribbon-cutting with city officials, the development team and new residents.
The 110-unit Station U & O sits on city-owned Parcel 42, which had been eyed for development for nearly a decade but experienced a series of setbacks and delays.
“I had a commitment when I became mayor to unstick stuck projects, and this was one of them,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the ribbon-cutting Thursday.
Developed by Dantes Partners, the project brings 108 units of affordable housing to an area saturated with development in a business and arts district that has historically been a hub for the Black community.
“We also know that the neighborhood we are in, beautiful Shaw, was one of the neighborhoods destroyed in 1968,” Bowser said, referring to the riots after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. “But the community has worked over many decades not only to rebuild Shaw but to rebuild it in a way that preserves history and includes the voices and experiences of legacy D.C.”
Also at the ribbon-cutting were Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert, D.C. Housing Finance Agency CEO Christopher Donald, Dantes Partners CEO Buwa Binitie, Amazon Housing Equity Fund Managing Principal Senthil Sankaran and Station U & O’s first resident, Kiviette Bouknight.
LEASES
Monday Properties landed a 40K SF lease with the National Association of Corporate Directors, which is relocating its headquarters from Courthouse to Rosslyn's 1100 Wilson Blvd. The 31-story office tower is part of a seven-property portfolio that went into special servicing last year due to missed debt payments, and Monday Properties Managing Partner Tim Helmig told Bisnow this week that this lease will help the landlord hold on to the assets.
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The new owner of an office building near Union Station announced two lease renewals after purchasing the 202K SF property at a foreclosure auction last month. Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners renewed leases for the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities at 660 North Capitol St. NW, the private investment firm announced in a press release. The two leases total 78K SF.
The property was owned by Republic Properties, which delivered it on spec in 2016. Eagle Cliff purchased it from the lender, an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, for $30.1M in December. Eagle Cliff is undertaking lobby, rooftop and spec suite renovations at the property. The landlord was represented by JLL’s Doug Mueller, Evan Behr and Mac Hall, and the tenants were represented by Cresa’s Mindy Saffer, Jonathan Harms and LaMean Koroma.
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International law firm Sullivan & Cromwell renewed and expanded its White House-adjacent office with a 10-year lease, landlord Carr Properties announced this week. The firm is adding 15K SF to its footprint at 1700 New York Ave. NW, taking 79K SF across the entire fourth and eighth floors. The deal takes the property to 91% leased, Carr said.
Carr was represented in-house by Kaitlyn Rausse and Ryan Lopez, and Sullivan & Cromwell was represented by CBRE’s Lou Christopher and Jordan Brainard.
SALES
International food distributor Pronto Fulfillment purchased a 32K SF property in Manassas for its new East Coast headquarters. The company purchased the property on 4.5 acres at 10199 Dean Drive for $5.9M. Pronto is leaving a smaller leased space in Gainesville, Virginia, in favor of the new Manassas property, the company’s broker, Boosalis Properties’ George Boosalis, told Bisnow. Boosalis and his partner at the firm, Thomas Veltsistas, represented Pronto in the transaction.
MILESTONES
A church next to the Logan Circle Whole Foods is coming to the market, Greysteel announced this week. The Grace Reformed Church at 1401-1405 15th St. NW is being marketed by the investment services firm as an “excellent candidate for a creative adaptive reuse project.” Built in the early 1900s, the church once served as a place of worship for President Theodore Roosevelt and his family. It shuttered in 2019.
A conceptual site plan envisions 10 residential units and a retail space within the existing building envelope, according to a news release. There is also an adjacent 3,300 SF Parish House, which could be renovated as a single-family home or condo, the release says.
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The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development is looking for a redevelopment plan for Chevy Chase’s Civic Center Site. The request for proposals announced this week seeks a plan for the Upper Northwest site’s neighborhood library and community center. New housing, including affordable housing, is set to be developed on the site at 5601 and 5625 Connecticut Ave. NW. The city has secured $44M in capital investments for the redevelopment project, according to a news release.
Located in Ward 3’s Rock Creek West area, the site was identified as an opportunity to add housing to a part of the city where new development has been slow.
PERSONNEL
CBRE has hired Ben Plaisted and Greg Scheipers from Savills for its D.C. advisory and transaction services group. Plaisted will come on as executive vice president and Scheipers as senior vice president, the brokerage announced Friday. They will both specialize in advising occupier clients in the D.C. metro and globally.
They had both been with Savills since 2011, with Plaisted most recently serving as vice chairman and D.C. co-regional manager, while Scheipers held the title of executive managing director.
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A 25-year veteran of Gensler is launching her own D.C.-based architecture firm. Mariela Buendia-Corrochano is launching estudioMBC LLC, she announced Thursday, adding that the firm signed its first client, a confidential law firm. Buendia-Corrochano most recently served as design principal at Gensler. Before that, she was the global design leader and regional professional service firms practice area leader and helped launch and grow the firm’s Mexico City office.
