Douglas Development Managing Principal Matthew Jemal's venture that has been buying up older D.C.-area office buildings this year has acquired the loan on a 1980s-era office building near Dupont Circle.
:no_upscale():quality(75))
Jemal's Lion LLC has acquired the loan for The Lion Building at 1233 20th St. NW. Deed records show the entity is connected to Douglas Development, and Matthew Jemal told Bisnow the buyer was his Jemal Equities affiliate.
The prior lender, MetLife Investment Management, offloaded the loan last week, D.C. deed records filed Monday show. MetLife originated the loan in October 2018 with an initial balance of $47.6M, and Jemal said its current balance is $45M.
The 155K SF office building at 1233 20th St. NW is owned by MRP Realty and BentallGreenOak. In 2018, MRP and GreenOak Real Estate, which has since merged with Bentall Kennedy, purchased the property from JBG Smith for $65M and planned to renovate it.
MRP Managing Principal Bob Murphy declined to comment. MetLife didn't respond to a request for comment.
The office building is home to the Embassy of Vietnam, Interface Media Group, the League of Women Voters of the United States and law firm Kiernan Trebach, according to their websites.
Douglas, one of D.C.’s most prominent landlords and developers, has a 16.1M SF portfolio across seven states and the District of Columbia, according to its website. That includes 3,200 residential units, 4.1M SF of office and 3.9M SF of retail.
The company has sold roughly a dozen properties in the D.C. area this year, including the 7.9-acre former Black Entertainment Television headquarters in Northeast D.C., a historic office building downtown and three restaurant properties this fall.
Jemal Equities has made two big D.C.-area office buys this year. It scooped up the 123K SF office building at 1750 H St. NW in July for $28.8M and a 175K SF office at 1530 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn for $28M.
