This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
Law firm Kellogg Hansen is expanding its footprint in Downtown D.C. as part of a lease renewal through October 2036.
Cushman & Wakefield represented Kellogg in its 83K SF lease signed March 20 at Boston Properties' 1615 M St. NW, part of the Sumner Square complex.
It is expanding by 20K SF from its previous 63K SF footprint, and it will occupy the first, second, third, fourth and ninth floors. The new lease comes with amenity upgrades and reconfigured spaces.
Kellogg Head of Business Development and Marketing Elizabeth Jeffries said the firm surveyed employees to understand what they were looking for in a post-pandemic office environment.
“Our firm is small but growing,” Jeffries told Bisnow. “And it’s an exciting time for Kellogg Hansen. We’re looking to, as we come back to the office, have a more comfortable and cohesive office space for our attorneys.”
New features include a Zoom deposition room, gym, wellness support space and conference center. Upgrades are coming to conference rooms, the library and common and reception areas. The firm is in the process of bidding on construction and expects work to be completed by summer 2024.
Kellogg Hansen's practice areas include antitrust litigation, commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. Its D.C. office has represented Meta, formerly Facebook, in its high-profile antitrust cases.
SALES
JM Zell Partners, a development firm that has a brokerage arm, announced this week it brokered the sale of 1771 N St. NW in Dupont Circle to the University of Southern California for its new D.C. headquarters.
The curved glass high-rise, previously occupied by the National Association of Broadcasters, was sold by Stream Realty Partners for $49.4M, a deal announced by USC earlier this month.
The 60K SF LEED-certified building will offer classrooms for undergraduate, graduate students and alumni, plus study areas, a theater and a bookstore. It will also house USC’s Office of Research Advancement, through which faculty researchers secure federal funding.
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KLNB’s new multifamily team, formed with its February acquisition of Edge Commercial, has brokered its first sale: a 238-unit apartment community at 409 Muddy Branch Road in Gaithersburg.
The property was sold for $46.1M by Kay Apartment Communities. KLNB represented the seller and the buyer, Acento Real Estate Partners.
LEASES
Four new retailers, Sephora, Bath & Body Works, Crumbl Cookies and The Joint Chiropractic, signed leases at Woodmore Towne Centre in Glenarden, Maryland. They all expect to open within a year.
The 712K SF mall, home of big-box stores like Wegmans, Costco, Best Buy and Nordstrom Rack, is owned by Urban Edge Properties, which was represented by KLNB for all four deals.
FINANCING
Amazon Housing Equity Fund awarded a $2.2M grant to nonprofit Jubilee Housing to renovate four Adams Morgan properties. One hundred and eighteen units will be renovated at The Ritz, The Mozart, The Fuller and The Marietta in Ward 1. Jubilee Housing sets aside two-thirds of units for residents earning up to 30% of the area median income, and nearly all of its households earn less or equal to 60% AMI.
Amazon has financed a series of deals in the D.C. region with its $2B housing fund. The director of the fund, Catherine Buell, recently left Amazon and is being replaced by interim director Senthil Sankaran.
PERSONNEL
Doug Mackenzie was hired to lead the renewable energy practice at JLL. The team assists clients in transitioning aging infrastructure to be compatible with renewable energy. Mackenzie comes to JLL from engineering firm Black & Veatch, where he worked as the director of federal energy security for eight years.
