This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
A vacant, 300K SF office building in the heart of downtown is set to be transformed into a temporary art experience as it awaits conversion.
Beginning Friday, Artomatic will take over the eight floors of 2100 M St. NW, where Philadelphia-based Post Brothers is planning an office-to-residential play.
Artomatic is a D.C.-based organization that holds pop-up multimedia festivals in temporarily available spaces. This latest exhibition near the West End will showcase the work of more than 1,000 artists and performers. It is set to run through April 28.
“Bringing Artomatic to a vacant office building is emblematic of our vision for DC's downtown and actions we're recommending in the Downtown Action Plan,” Golden Triangle Business Improvement District President Leona Agouridis said in a release.
“More and more, we are taking existing Golden Triangle spaces and finding ways to make them shine in new ways that draw people downtown,” she said.
Mayor Muriel Bowser delivered remarks at Artomatic's kickoff Friday morning.
"Artomatic represents not only our commitment to uplifting DC’s creative community, it represents the work of our Comeback Plan – to change spaces, fill spaces, and bring people back to our neighborhoods and especially to Downtown,” Bowser said in a statement.
Post Brothers purchased the 1969-built property last May for $66.8M from Alliance Bernstein. The developer is also planning to convert two Dupont Circle office buildings it purchased in 2022 into over 600 residential units.
LEASES
DHL eCommerce inked a 138K SF lease at a Matan Cos. industrial property in Manassas, Virginia. The delivery company leased a full building at 11400 University Blvd. within the 50-acre Redstone Industrial campus.
Matan sold 28 acres of the campus off Prince William Parkway in late 2021. The developer kept the remaining 22 acres, where it now has two buildings, one of which will be fully occupied by DHL. Matan Cos. was represented in-house by Brad Benna. Fischer Commercial Real Estate’s Andrew Hegmann represented DHL in the transaction.
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The National Wildlife Federation renewed its 13K SF Metro Center lease, extending its term for “several years,” according to a press release. The nonprofit will remain at Landow & Co.’s 1200 G St. NW, where it has been located since 2017. Cresa’s Erica King and Kenny King represented the tenant and JLL’s Evan Behr and Meghan Murray represented the landlord.
MILESTONES
The Portals I office building in Southwest D.C. is officially slated for an office-to-residential conversion, the developers announced this week. London-based private equity firm Henderson Park and Los Angeles-based developer Lowe are planning to transform the 536K SF, eight-story building into a mixed-use property with 421 apartment units, 69K SF of retail and commercial space, and 545 parking spaces.
Henderson Park purchased the property at 1250 Maryland Ave. SW in December for about $26M, the Washington Business Journal reported at the time. Lowe filed office-to-residential plans with the city for conversion at the building earlier in the year. The conversion is set to start in early 2025 and take two years to complete.
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A new emergency health department is coming to Ward 7, Mayor Bowser announced this week. Universal Health Services is developing the $20M, standalone ER, which is set to operate 24/7 for patients of all ages. At full build-out, it will be staffed by about 40 medical and professional staff, according to the release. The facility is planned for about 10K SF on one parcel of the 15-acre Fletcher-Johnson site, the WBJ reported.
FINANCING
An office-to-residential conversion on Alexandria’s waterfront landed a $96M senior construction loan. Beverly Hills, California-based Kennedy Wilson provided the loan to Community Three and Whitaker Investment Corp. for their conversion of a 1980s-era office building to a mixed-use development dubbed TideLock. The project is planned for 169 rental units, 65 condominiums and 7K SF of commercial space. Construction is expected to commence immediately, with a 2026 delivery. Cushman & Wakefield’s Marshall Scallan, Michael Zelin, Bindi Shah and Nick Rangel arranged the loan.
PERSONNEL
Three Transwestern brokers are making the leap to Stream Realty Partners, joining the Dallas-based brokerage’s industrial team. Stream is bringing in Caulley Deringer as a managing director, Steve Cloud as an executive vice president and Andrew Hassett as a vice president, Commercial Observer reported. The three will join a team with Stream Executive Managing Director Kyle Luby.
