Office Properties Income Trust Sells Office Building in Downtown D.C. for $70M

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Office Properties Income Trust (OPI), a REIT, has sold a 129,035-square-foot office building located at 500 First St. NW in downtown Washington, D.C. The Bureau of Prisons is expected to leave the office by the end of April, leaving the property vacant. According to OPI CEO David Blackman, OPI planned to renovate the asset, “but at a sales price of more than $540 per square foot for a to-be vacant building, we decided to be opportunistic and focus our capital elsewhere.” Proceeds from the sale will go toward repaying a portion of OPI’s unsecured term loans. The buyer was not disclosed, although Washington Business Journal reports Georgetown University bought the property. The university plans to relocate many Georgetown Law centers and institutes and some McCourt School of Public Policy centers and institutes into the building, according to the report.