Blackstone Sells D.C. Office Building To Spanish Billionaire For $231M
A 55-year-old office building near the White House that underwent a significant renovation in 2013 has just traded hands.
Blackstone sold the 815 Connecticut Ave. NW office building to Ponte Gadea, the investment vehicle of Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, for $231M in a deal posted Thursday to the D.C. Recorder of Deeds.
The sale of the 12-story, 236K SF office building pencils out to $979/SF. Cushman & Wakefield's D.C. capital markets team led by Bill Collins brokered the deal. The property last sold in 2016, when Blackstone bought it from Swedish pension fund Alecta Real Estate Investment for $190M.
The building, constructed in 1964, underwent a $30M-plus renovation in 2013 that earned it a LEED Platinum certification. Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton toured the building in 2011 to kick off the Better Buildings Initiative, a nearby $4B program to make commercial properties more efficient.
Law firm Baker McKenzie is the anchor tenant in the building, with a 90K SF lease it renewed earlier this year until 2035, according to Compstak.
The deal is the second nine-figure D.C. office acquisition for Ponte Gadea in less than a year. The firm in December acquired 1501 K St. NW from a JV of J.P. Morgan Asset Management and JBG Smith for $385M, another deal brokered by Collins' team.
