While D.C.'s office sales market has been dominated by foreign buyers this year, an Atlanta-based REIT appears to have won the bidding for a major downtown property.
Columbia Property Trust is finalizing an agreement to buy 1800 M St. NW from PGIM for somewhere between $435M and $465M, Real Estate Alert reports. Both parties declined to comment.
PGIM, an affiliate of Prudential Financial, lost its anchor tenant in 2012 when the Department of Agriculture vacated the building. It then launched a $25M renovation to attract new tenants.
Since the renovation, PGIM has brought the building back up to 95% leased by signing deals with Berkeley Research Group for 60K SF in 2013, The Segal Group for 29K SF in August 2016 and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers for 25K SF in March. Cushman & Wakefield's team of Bobby Schwartz, James Collins and Mark Sullivan helped PGIM lease up the building.
HFF is representing PGIM in the sale, which would likely fall between $750/SF and $800/SF. It is the second major office sale in the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District this month after Japanese investor Unizo acquired 1111 19th St. NW for $203M.
The building would be Columbia Property Trust's third D.C. property. It owns Market Square on Pennsylvania Avenue, where it completed a $15M renovation last year, and 80 M St. SE in Capitol Riverfront, where it signed WeWork to open a 69K SF co-working space.
