JPMorgan Seizes Georgetown Building From JBG Smith In $22M Foreclosure

A 50-year-old Georgetown office building is now in the hands of its lender.

JPMorgan Chase cast the winning bid of $22.3M for The Foundry, a 256K SF building at 1055 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, at a foreclosure auction this month. The deed was posted to D.C. property records on Friday.

JPMorgan's credit bid was just over a third of the amount still left on the note, which was $58M, according to the foreclosure auction notice. The assessed property value is $74.4M, according to the trustee’s deed.

JBG Smith and JPMorgan Chase didn't respond to requests for comment.

JBG Smith's predecessor, JBG Cos., purchased the seven-story building in 2014 through a joint venture fund. Deed records show that JBG/Foundry Office LLC paid $79.5M with a $58M JPMorgan Chase loan. That loan was refinanced in 2019 for another $58M from the lender, according to deed records.

In February, Bethesda-based JBG Smith said it had ceased putting capital into the property and didn't expect any near-term cash flow, Bisnow first reported.

Foreclosure auctions allow lenders to virtually wipe a property’s financial slate clean. As Bisnow reported in January, by going through the process, lenders can clear most issues that a property suffered since the loan was issued, including mechanic's liens.

Transwestern, the building's brokerage under JBG Smith, is continuing to lease the property's 232K SF of rentable space, Scott Fetterolf, senior vice president for the Houston-based firm, told Bisnow. Its amenities include a tenant lounge, a conference center and a fitness center, according to the auction notice from Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

JBG Smith, the developer of Amazon HQ2, has been consolidating its business in Arlington's National Landing neighborhood, which houses 75% of the Bethesda-based REIT's holdings, according to its year-end earnings report. It is also focusing on an ownership shift to primarily multifamily assets. The developer delivered twin 300-foot-tall apartment towers The Grace and Reva in the winter.

Earlier this year, the REIT sold a 31-story Central Place office tower in Rosslyn that it developed in 2018 to CoStar Group. The price was $339M, Bisnow first reported.

JBG Smith owns just a handful of office properties outside National Landing, according to its year-end report. Among them is the 375K SF 2101 L St. NW in D.C.'s West End and the 209K SF 1101 17th St. NW at Farragut North. Last May, the REIT sold an 80% stake in its own Bethesda headquarters building at 4747 Bethesda Ave.

The price JPMorgan paid is another indicator of how far office values have fallen in D.C. The deed transfer was for 28% of the building's last sale price, a similar discount to other distress trades that have taken place in and around the District in recent months, like the January sale of 1101 14th St. NW for $18.2M, down 70% from its 2017 price of $62M.