This Week’s D.C. Deal Sheet: Ballston Office Building Sells For A Third Of 2019 Price
Ballston's Two Liberty Center office building has traded hands for $27.6M, well below its previous sale price.
Brookfield and Hines sold the nearly half-empty building at 4075 Wilson Blvd. to Rithm Capital, the Washington Business Journal reported.
FarmViewVentures and GreenBarn Management LLC are also partners in the deal, but Rithm is the majority investor. The sale hasn't yet been posted in Arlington property records.
The price was less than 30% of the 2019 sale, which was for $91.2M.
“The price of a NYC townhouse i like to joke,” FarmViewVentures Founder John Wolf wrote in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.
The property, built in 2005, is 52% leased, per Wolf. Tenants include Industrious, Atlas Network, Open Text and NOVA Advertising, according to their websites.
LEASES
All of the Franklin D. Reeves Municipal Center’s city government tenants are moving to NoMa. Tenants totaling over 169K SF are relocating to 899 North Capitol St. NE, the Washington Business Journal reported. The property is owned by San Antonio firm Affinius Capital — the United Services Automobile Association’s investment arm. The moves pave the way for MRP Realty and CSG Urban Partners’ massive plan to redevelop the historic office building at 14th and U Streets into 320 residential units, 108K SF of office and a 116-room hotel.
MILESTONES
Donohoe filed a planned unit development with D.C.’s Zoning Commission to build a 127-unit apartment building in Friendship Heights, Urban Turf reported. Torti Gallas Urban is the architect on the five-story project. One-third of the units will be reserved for affordable housing, per the filing. The development site is next to Donohoe’s 260-unit project at 5151 Wisconsin Ave. NW, a six-story building it’s developing at the former WTTG-Fox 5 headquarters.
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WMATA is seeking developers for a mixed-use project on 5.5 acres next to the Capitol Heights Station in Prince George’s County. The transit authority released a request this week for a joint development partner to “provide new housing, neighborhood-serving retail, and improve connectivity adjacent to transit with regional accessibility” to the site on the Blue Line. Maryland has already allocated $17M in infrastructure costs associated with the development. The solicitation is the fourth of five WMATA expects to announce this year. It expects to select a developer in the winter of 2025.
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A 148-unit affordable housing development opened in Ward 7 Thursday. Foulger Pratt was the developer on the $101M project at Benning Road NE and 16th Street NE. Of the one, two and three-bedroom units, 133 are reserved for households earning at or below 50% of the area median income and the rest for those earning 30% of the AMI. Mayor Muriel Bowser attended the ribbon cutting. The development secured financing from the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, D.C. Housing Finance Agency and D.C. Housing Authority.
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Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the ribbon on Kellen’s new headquarters at the National Press Building this week. The association management company has had a D.C. office since 1990 but has now doubled its footprint at 1320 F St. NW — taking 32K SF — to create a headquarters space. The company’s lease is for an 11-year term. Kellen was a recipient of D.C.’s $10M Vitality Fund, which has so far supported the relocation of one company and the expansion of five companies, according to the mayor’s office.
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The conversion of a former federal office building into 562 residential units in Southwest is open for leasing, the developer announced this week. The Cotton Annex Building at 300 12th St. SW, which until 2007 was used to classify cotton and tobacco, is now Annex on 12th after being redeveloped by Carmel Partners. The property includes 18K SF of amenity space, including a resident speakeasy called The Vault. The first move-ins are expected in early December.
FINANCING
D.C. is getting $12M in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for a climate-resilience-focused affordable housing fund. D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency is putting the funding into a Resilient Housing for All loan fund, a revolving fund through which the District will offer 1% interest loans aimed at projects that build resilience in affordable housing, the mayor's office announced Friday. The federal funding comes from the Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Act.
PERSONNEL
Georgetown Business Improvement District President and CEO Joe Sternlieb is stepping down after serving in the role since 2012, the BID announced this week. Sternlieb is taking a position as an executive fellow at the Federal City Council, where he will work on public parks, transportation and infrastructure. He is expected to officially leave the Georgetown BID in the first quarter of 2025. The BID doesn't yet have a replacement, but it has appointed a search committee to work with a recruiter to identify and hire a new CEO.
