Unizo Pays $203M For Office Building Where Wawa Is Opening D.C. Flagship
The most active buyer of D.C. properties over the last 18 months is back in the market with a $203M Downtown D.C. office buy.
Unizo Holdings Co. has acquired 1111 19th St. NW, the building where Blackboard is headquartered and Wawa is breaking into the District with its largest store.
The Japanese investor entered into a contract to buy the building from Clarion Partners on Aug. 3 for $203M, according to a release on its website. It expects the deal to close in September or October.
Clarion acquired the 12-story, 270K SF building for $115M in 2008. It then spent $11M renovating the building and in 2015 it landed Blackboard to move its HQ to a 71K SF space in 2015.
Pennsylvania-based convenience store and hoagie shop Wawa chose the building as its first D.C. location, where it will occupy nearly 10K SF, the chain's largest store. It is scheduled to open in December.
The deal marks the ninth building Unizo has acquired since breaking into the D.C. market in March 2016. This is the first D.C. buy the investor has made since March, when it bought adjacent buildings at 1325 and 1341 G St. NW for $259M. The company has kept a low profile as it has become a main driver behind D.C.'s investment sales market over the last 18 months.
