JBG May Go Public or Sell Parts of Portfolio By February

JBG is exploring options that will enable it to recapitalize and provide some of its executives and investors with the opportunity to cash out.

The Chevy Chase-based company could soon form a publicly traded REIT or sell part of its portfolio to accomplish those goals, the Washington Business Journal reports. JBG has been mulling the decision for several months and has reached out to investors to gauge interest in being bought out or keeping their funds with the company. The exact timing and details of the company’s plans are still being ironed out, but a decision could come as soon as February.

The move may be motivated by JBG’s desire to provide more flexibility to investors and partners by creating a greater mix of funding and building more liquidity into its projects. JBG has structured several of its project-specific developments in the form of non-publicly traded REITs, including an entity named JBG/Foundry Office REIT LLC, which was formed earlier this year as part of a JV with CBRE to acquire The Foundry in Georgetown.

JBG is the most prolific developer in the region and it's owned by a group of 21 principals and partners, some of whom might break out on their own if they accept a buy-out. Among the projects in the JBG pipeline are a massive mixed-use development in NoMa being planned in conjunction with Gallaudet University. Plans for the first stage call for 134k SF of retail, 63k SF of offices and 1,800 residential units. This summer JBG broke ground at 13th and U; it will house a 129-unit, mixed-use building with 16k SF of ground-floor retail. [WBJ]