Jemals Sell Georgetown Building To Developer Planning Conversion

A building on the eastern edge of Georgetown's famous M Street retail corridor is slated for redevelopment after trading hands.

The mixed-use building at 2715 M St. NW in Georgetown.
The mixed-use building at 2715 M St. NW in Georgetown

Local real estate giant Douglas Development Corp. sold the mixed-use building at 2715 M St. NW to Adams Investment Group for $12M, Berkadia Senior Managing Director Bobby Meehling tells Bisnow. The deal, which Meehling brokered on behalf of the Jemal family-owned firm, hasn't yet appeared in deed records.

The 29K SF building was constructed in 1985, and Douglas had owned it since 1999.

It consists of 17,100 SF of office, 9,100 SF of residential and 2,900 SF of retail, but Adams plans to turn it into luxury homes.

The Old Georgetown Board in May reviewed a plan to convert the building's commercial space to residential. UrbanTurf reported in April that the plan was filed by Douglas Development, but Meehling said that proposal represented the plans of the buyer.

The proposal, designed by ADG+G Architecture, calls for turning the building into six townhouses and two penthouse condos.

Douglas Development principal Norman Jemal said the firm sold the building “to focus on projects that offer better scale.” He declined to comment further.

The project would be a relatively small one for Douglas, which redeveloped the Uline Arena in NoMa into office and retail space, including a flagship REI store. The D.C.-based firm is one of the most active buyers locally of distressed offices and has a pipeline of larger projects in the District and elsewhere.

The property drew strong investor interest. Meehling said he held more than 20 tours with prospective buyers and fielded seven or eight offers.

He compared the interest to the buyer pool he had when he marketed the Hamilton Court mixed-use property in Georgetown two years ago. That 55K SF complex sold to a joint venture including The Bernstein Cos. for $16.5M in March 2024, deed records show.

"When Norman called about this, I said, 'It's exactly like Hamilton Court. How is there another one of these?'" Meehling said. "It's got a courtyard in the middle, it's facing M Street, it has retail, office and residential. Everybody who looked at Hamilton Court and didn't get it is coming over to look at this."

Meehling first announced the deal last week in a LinkedIn post, in which he thanked Adams Investment Group principal John Holmes "for once again showing that a handshake still matters."

When asked by Bisnow to expand on why he said that, he said it was because it is "somewhat difficult to transact in D.C. right now."

"When you have a buyer who says I'm going to buy it, pay you $12M, sign a noncontingent contract with you, and they do everything they say they're going to do regardless of the normal deal gyrations that occur from start to closing — never blinked, just went ahead and did it — I like to acknowledge good behavior," he said.

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