This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet: Equity Residential Sells Dupont Apartments

Equity Residential has sold a Dupont Circle apartment building that it owned for just over a decade.

The REIT offloaded the 138-unit Corcoran House at Dupont Circle Apartments for $31.5M, according to documents filed with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds this week. 

The buyer was a private partnership formed by former Borger Management Chairman Tom Borger that has been a longtime investor in the D.C. area, Borger told Bisnow in an email. The equity for the Dupont acquisition was family funded and included long-term investors from Geneva, he said. 

“We view this a long-term investment in a well-maintained apartment building in a superb location,” he said. “I have been expressing my interest to Equity Residential in this property for decades. So we were pleased to have the opportunity to acquire this asset.”

Borger obtained a $20.6M Fannie Mae loan for the acquisition, deed records show.

Equity Residential didn't respond to a request for comment.

Equity purchased the 1960s-era property at 1616 18th St. NW in 2013. It sits two blocks from Connecticut Avenue and a third of a mile from the Dupont Circle Metro station.

Meanwhile, Equity Residential is expanding its reach in the Sun Belt. It reached an agreement earlier this month to buy 11 properties across Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver from Blackstone for nearly $1B.

SALES

Douglas Development purchased The Portrait building in Chinatown after it was turned over to the lender earlier this year. Douglas paid $34.25M for the 135K SF property, according to deed records first reported by the Washington Business Journal. Atlanta-based Voya Investment Management sold the property at 701 Eighth St. NW after acquiring it from Clarion Partners through a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure in May. Douglas obtained a $36M loan from Voya Investment Management, of which $30.8M went toward the acquisition, the WBJ reported, citing trust documents.

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Baltimore-based The Premier Cos. purchased a 124K SF office building in Gaithersburg for $8.2M, according to Maryland land records. PMRG was the seller of Montgomery Executive Center at 6 Montgomery Village Ave. The price represents a 34% discount on the $12.4M PMRG paid in 2013. It works out to $66 per SF.  

LEASES

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has renewed its 30K SF lease at 1717 H St. NW., Donohoe, which represented the landlord of the 351K SF property, announced on LinkedIn Thursday. The renewal is for a three-year term and was signed in July, a Donohoe press representative told Bisnow. Donohoe’s Bert “Bob” Donohoe, Ethan Abrams, Bob Hines and Don Konz, along with Stoladi Property Group’s Jim Stokes, represented the landlord.

FINANCING

Montgomery Housing Partnership has closed on its deal for a 163-unit White Flint all-affordable housing project. Plans for the project on Nebel Street at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road had been previously reported, but the $7M land sale closed this week, according to BridgeWater’s Adam Stein, who brokered the deal from when he was at Ideal Realty Group.

The total project capitalization was $86M. The deal included 4% and 9% low-income housing tax credits. The project was awarded $1M from the Rental Housing Program and a $2.2M grant from Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund. The units will be reserved for residents earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. 

MILESTONES

Fairfield has completed a 244-unit apartment building at Downtown Crown, a planned community development in Gaithersburg, the San Diego-based developer announced this week. The 333 Ellington Apartments property has 27 affordable units, and amenities include a fitness center with yoga and aerobics studios, a pool, a coworking lounge and a pet spa. Fairfield received approval from the Gaithersburg Planning Commission for the project at 333 Ellington Blvd. in the summer of 2021.

PERSONNEL

Peterson Cos. has hired Madison Marquette Chief Operating Officer Daniel McCahan as its new president, the Washington Business Journal reported. The company is bolstering its ranks as it prepares for a wave of retirements in the next few years. Jon Peterson will stay in the CEO role. McCahan’s start date is Sept. 9.

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EagleBank has hired Evelyn Lee as its chief lending officer for commercial and industrial lending. The company announced the news in a Friday press release, which says Lee will oversee all lending production and portfolio management activities in the bank’s C&I lending division. Lee comes from Truist Financial Corp., where she was most recently an executive vice president. She was at the bank and its predecessor, SunTrust Banks, for the last 24 years, according to her LinkedIn page.

EagleBank has doubled down on its C&I business over the last year. It called C&I a “significant strategic growth area” in the release. Lee begins her role on Sept. 19.