The first office building at The Yards has reached the vertical phase of construction, and the developer has closed on its acquisition of the land.

Brookfield acquired the property at 1275 New Jersey Ave. SE, where it is building a headquarters for Chemonics, from the General Services Administration in a $28.4M deal posted Tuesday to the D.C. Recorder of Deeds.

The sale had been under contract and planned to close following the completion of site prep, and the project has now begun the above-ground phase of construction, a Brookfield spokesperson tells Bisnow. The team held a groundbreaking ceremony in February during the site-prep phase.

Chemonics signed on in April 2019 for the 300K SF, build-to-suit office project. It is the first office building at The Yards, the 48-acre development that has delivered hundreds of apartments and dozens of new retailers to the Southeast D.C. waterfront.

The Yards is being built on the site of the old Southeast Federal Center, and the developer has acquired the property from the U.S. government in phases that began in 2008. The project has contributed to the revitalization of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, also home to Nationals Park.

The groundbreaking of the Chemonics building represented the start of Phase 2 of The Yards, slated to include 1,200 residential units, 1.5M SF of office space and 150K SF of retail. The project was spearheaded by Forest City before Brookfield acquired the REIT in 2018.