Qatari Royal Family Buys Dupont Circle Mixed-Use Building For $32.5M
A deep-pocketed foreign investor has just acquired a mixed-use property on a prime corner in Dupont Circle.
JLL announced Thursday it represented Shorenstein Co. in its sale of the property at 1301 and 1317 Connecticut Ave. NW for $32.5M.
JLL Managing Director Bill Prutting tells Bisnow the buyer was London-based ADAM Asset Management. ADAM, also known as Alduwaliya Asset Management, invests on behalf of the Qatari royal family and owns multiple D.C. assets, including an office building it bought in 2017 two blocks away at 1155 Connecticut Ave. NW.
"Jewel box assets are a pretty attractive category for foreign investors in our experience," Prutting said. "It just provides a more approachable deal size to investors that are traditionally looking in gateway markets that find they hit a ceiling at a certain price point ... and to find a corner building in our market of that deal size makes it a one-of-one asset."
The 66K SF property consists of 54K SF of office and 12K SF of retail space, including Luna Grill & Diner and Muncheez. Starbucks previously occupied part of the ground-floor space, but it closed in December 2018.
The property sits on a triangular site at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and 18th and N streets. It is one block south of Dupont Circle and less than a half-mile from the Farragut North Metro station.
Shorenstein Co. bought the building in 2011 for $26.7M. The San Francisco-based investor upgraded the property by renovating its lobby, common areas, elevators and restrooms and adding a new fitness center and spec suites.
Prutting said foreign investors remain active in the D.C. market today, and they are more likely to be drawn to an asset like the Connecticut Avenue property.
"There are a number of high net worth individuals and institutions outside the U.S. that would be attracted to something like this in this market, more so than the domestic investors that tend to be weighted down with everything happening in the U.S., including the election," Prutting said.
