WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just a year after acquiring its Washington headquarters building, CoStar Group has sold the building to the tune of a $60 million profit. The real estate data firm entered into an agreement to sell 1331 L Street to an affiliate of German firm GLL Real Estate Partners GmBH for $101 million. CoStar will then lease a majority of the building back for a reported 15-year term.
CoStar acquired the 10-story, 169,429-square-foot property when real estate prices were at an all-time low. The company purchased the LEED-Gold certified building last February for $41.25 million, much less than the seller, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), paid for the two-year old building. MBA acquired the building from its original developers, Paramount Group and DRI Development Services, in 2008 for $79.32 million, which was a deal itself, given that the developers spent approximately $91 million to construct it.
Under the terms of the agreement, up to $15 million of the sale price will be held in escrow to help fund improvements to CoStar's offices. The Cassidy Turley team of William Collins, Paul Collins, John Flood, Judson Ryan and James Cassidy represented CoStar in the sale.
— Coleman Wood