WASHINGTON, D.C. — CBRE Capital Markets’ debt and structured finance team has arranged $63.6 million in acquisition financing for a 195,624-square-foot office building located at 2025 M St. in Washington, D.C.’s central business district. Charles Foschini, Christian Lee and Christopher Apone of CBRE’s Miami office arranged the 10-year loan through Philadelphia-based RAIT Financial Trust on behalf of the borrower, a private family interest in Brazil. The loan features three years of interest-only payments.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Urban Investment Partners (UIP) and Lubert-Adler Partners have teamed up to acquire Embassy Towers, a 72-unit apartment building located in Washington, D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, for $13.3 million. The property is located at 1620 Fuller St. N.W. The Embassy Towers Tenant Association has not decided whether the property will remain an apartment building or convert into a condominium project. Alan Davis and Brendan Flood of HFF represented the seller, a family consortium, in the transaction. UIP subsidiaries UIP Property Management Inc. and UIP General Contracting Inc. will handle property management duties and renovations to Embassy Towers, respectively.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A joint venture partnership between Federal Capital Partners and Self Storage Zone has begun construction on a 1,381-unit self storage facility located at 1850 New York Ave. N.E. in Washington, D.C. The facility will span 112,775 square feet. The joint venture has previously developed and opened a 1,034-unit self storage facility at 645 Taylor St. N.E. in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — AFIAA, the investment foundation of 35 Swiss pension funds, has purchased Arch Square, a mixed-use building in Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood, for roughly $104.3 million. The 54,896-square-foot property was built before World War II and refurbished in 2012. The property features retail space on the first two floors and office space on the top two floors. The office space is leased to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and the property’s retail tenant roster includes Walgreens, Sports Zone Elite and Panera Bread. Arch Square is located less than one mile from the White House at the corner of 7th and H streets in Washington, D.C.’s East End submarket.
RESTON, VA. — Multifamily developer Renaissance Centro has delivered Harrison at Reston Town Center, a 360-unit luxury apartment community located at 1800 Jonathan Way in Reston, 22 miles west of Washington, D.C. According to Renaissance Centro, the community is 20 percent pre-leased. Located across the street from Reston Town Center, the multifamily property features more than 28,000 square feet of amenity space, including an indoor lap pool, on-site Starbucks Coffee, 24-hour fitness center, resident lounge, outdoor pool and sundeck, media room, business center, conference rooms, culinary center, dog park and pet spa. The property also has an underground parking garage and a bus stop for Metro’s Silver Line. All residents will have membership to the Reston Association, which operates 15 swimming pools, 52 tennis courts, 1,350 acres of open space and 55 miles of paved pathways and trails. Community Realty Co. is providing property management services for Harrison at Reston Town Center. According to the property’s website (liveharrisonapts.com), rental rates range from $1,855 to $6,605.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oxford Properties Group has purchased a 49.7 percent stake in Washington Center, a 335,000-square-foot office building located at 1001 G St. N.W. in Washington, D.C.’s East End submarket. Oxford Properties Group is the real estate arm of OMERS, the pension plan for municipal employees in Ontario. Oxford partnered with the 12-story building’s developer, Quadrangle Development Corp., in the transaction. QDC Property Management will continue to manage the asset on behalf of the joint venture and QuikPark, also a Quadrangle affiliate, will continue to manage the five-story, below-grade parking garage.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP represented an affiliate of Carr Properties as landlord in a 700,000-square-foot lease of a building to be constructed for Fannie Mae’s new headquarters at 15th and L streets in Washington D.C. The new build-to-suit property will replace The Washington Post’s current headquarters. The lease is the largest ever non-government lease in Washington, D.C. The Fried Frank team was led by real estate partner Franz Rassman and included real estate associates Valerie Kelly, Neil Hood and Matthew Greeson.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — PRP LLC has purchased a 100,000-square-foot office building located at 2501 M St. N.W. in Washington, D.C.’s West End for $31.6 million. PRP acquired the property from the Association of American Medical Colleges on behalf of one PRP’s real estate funds in partnership with an institutional investor. PRP will convert the building into a 60-unit luxury residential condominium property with 11,475 square feet of retail space featuring outside dining. PRP plans to begin selling condo units in 2015 and deliver the finished homes by mid-2016.
There was a time when retail in the District of Columbia was tired and unimaginative, but today things are changing. Today, D.C. competes with some of this country’s greatest retail cities. No longer do “food by the pound” cafes dominate fast casual lunch options, or tired steak houses fill the nights. A young generation of award winning chefs — the likes of Mike Isabella, Cedric Maupillier and Aaron Silverman — are driving a new culinary scene, which in turn is helping to boost retail growth across our city. Silverman’s Rose’s Luxury across from the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill was just named 2014 best new restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit. With a population of less than 700,000, D.C. is still a relatively small city, but it doesn’t act like it. It is the focus of the nation’s — and the world’s — political eye. It is also blessed with a stable economy and the recent influx of a younger generation who seek to put their stamp on it. We are no longer just a government town. International corporations like Hilton, Marriott, Choice, and Host Hotels have chosen this market for their headquarters. Discovery and Travel channels have staked …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Grosvenor Americas has completed a $7.5 million renovation to the HVAC systems at its 200,000-square-foot office tower at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C., just a block away from the White House. The 12-story tower was certified LEED Gold-EB in 2013 and has recently added three tenants occupying a total of 29,300 square feet: Occidental Petroleum, FoxKiser and JAB Holdings, which is the parent company of Jimmy Choo, Bally and Peet’s Coffee. Peet’s Coffee has its flagship location on the ground floor of 1701 Pennsylvania Ave. Since purchasing the office tower in 1986, Grosvenor Americas has invested $16.7 million in upgrades.