One of downtown D.C.’s newest office developments has filled its entire ground-floor retail space with the addition of a Panamanian café.
Café Unido is taking 1,300 SF at Skanska’s 17xM, the city’s only ground-up trophy building delivered post-pandemic.
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The location will be Unido’s fourth in the city. It also has storefronts in Shaw, at Union Market’s La Cosecha food hall and at the Stacks development at Buzzard Point. At 17xM, it joins Austin-based Japanese restaurant Uchi on the ground floor.
“Today’s tenants are making long-term decisions about how their workplaces support collaboration, culture and employee experience,” Mark Carroll, Skanska USA's executive vice president of commercial development in the D.C. region, said in a release. “17xM’s leasing momentum reflects a broader shift toward office environments that are adaptable, hospitality-driven and designed to remain competitive over time.”
Skanska’s 334K SF building at 1700 M St. NW, which it delivered in 2024, is anchored by law firm Gibson Dunn, which preleased 164K SF in 2021. Also in the building is law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips. And at the end of last year, architecture and design firm Corgan and the University of Michigan signed on.
LEASES
The law firm that two-time U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr founded in 2022 is relocating in downtown D.C. while expanding its footprint by 66%. Torridon Law is moving from the top floor of Morgan Stanley’s 801 17th St. NW to Sentinel Real Estate Corp.’s 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, growing its footprint from around 22K SF to 36K SF. Torridon is moving from one sublease to another. Its new sublease is for all of Bass Barry & Sims' space as that firm prepares to move.
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260 Sample Sale inked a lease with Eastbanc and Acadia Realty Trust for a Georgetown storefront. The designer discount pop-up retailer is taking Ikea’s former 7K SF storefront at 3307 M St. NW, the ownership group announced this week. The storefront sits between a Tesla showroom and a Brandy Melville. It’s the New York City-born brand’s first location in the D.C. market. 260 Sample Sale is set to hold its first sale in mid-November. H&R Retail represented the retailer and has been “advising the brand on its expansion into the Washington, D.C. market,” according to a release.
SALES
Oliver Carr III’s Carr Properties purchased a 2-acre site in Old Town North, Alexandria, to build a 373-unit apartment building. The company paid $30M for 300 Montgomery St. from CarrAmerica, which was founded by Carr III’s father, Oliver Carr Jr. CarrAmerica had previously planned a residential development on the site, along with retail and a performing arts center. Construction on the new project is expected to begin in spring 2028 and deliver two years later.
MILESTONES
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Middleburg Communities and Capital City Real Estate topped out on their 260-unit apartment building in Fairfax, Virginia, called The Botanist. The $100M project sits on the parking lot at 10350 Eaton Place, which is next to the 1980s-era WillowWood office complex. Delivery is scheduled for the third quarter of next year. The developers acquired the 3-acre site for $10.4M in August 2025. Their $60M construction loan comes from Chicago-based CIBC Bank USA, a subsidiary of the Canadian bank.
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Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for 535 St. Alfred St., the second phase of an Old Town, Alexandria, apartment complex that’s expected to total 598 units. The second phase is set to deliver 288 units in 2029. Delivery for the first phase next door at 505 Alfred St. is scheduled for next year.
The project is a redevelopment of a 1970s-era affordable housing complex that housed 244 units between 12 garden-style buildings and a mid-rise building. The new development will dedicate 140 units for income-eligible former residents.
FINANCING
The owners of a 324-unit apartment building in D.C.’s Mount Vernon neighborhood inked a $97.9M refinance for the property from Affinius Capital, the lender announced this week. The Lydian at 400 K St. NW, which was built in 2018, is owned by a joint venture that includes Quadrangle Development Corp. and The Wilkes Co. Its 234-unit sister building, Lyric, sits next door. The complex’s 13,551 SF of ground-floor retail includes Joe & The Juice, Texas 2Fifty Barbecue and La Betty. JLL’s Chris Hew and Susan Carras arranged The Lydian’s refinancing.
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