Douglas Development Corp. has lost control of one of its most iconic buildings in Washington, D.C., after failing to pay its debt service for nine months. 

A D.C. Superior Court judge ordered that the half-a-million-square-foot Woodies Building at Metro Center be transferred to a receiver, Trigild IVL, which will take over operations at and management of the property at 1025 F St. NW.

That includes authority over financial, leasing and administrative matters, according to the Sept. 2 court order.

The receivership opens the door to potential changes in the building's future ownership and business plan. The transfer comes not long after the building lost a massive federal tenant: the FBI.

The order, filed in the D.C. Recorder of Deeds last week, stems from a lawsuit that the trustee for Douglas’ lender, an investment trust under South Korea's largest real estate manager, IGIS Asset Management, brought in August against two limited liability companies affiliated with Douglas Development.

IGIS US Private Placement Real Estate Investment Trust No. 98 is the holder of a $204.1M loan that the Douglas entities — Jemal's Cayre Woodies LLC and Jemal's Rich LLC — took out in January 2017. A court filing shows the balance on the loan is $221.6M. 

But since December 2025, the Douglas Development entities have failed to make monthly debt service payments on the loan, as well as various reserve payments dating back to March 2025, the plaintiff alleges in an Aug. 7 complaint. The complaint says the defendants have acknowledged the loan delinquency and reserve defaults, and the plaintiff asked the court to appoint Trigild IVL as receiver.

Douglas Development founder and President Douglas Jemal and Senior Managing Principal Norman Jemal, the borrowers listed on the 2017 loan, did not respond to requests for comment. Their attorney, Lane Potkin of Potkin Williamowsky & Pillay PLLC, was not available for comment.

IGIS, its trustee, NongHyup, and Trigild IVL also didn't respond to requests for comment.

The transfer to receivership comes after the FBI's 200K SF lease in the building was set to expire in November last year.

A source with access to federal leasing archives told Bisnow that as of February, the lease was taken down from the federal government’s database.

Despite that setback, Douglas has inked some high-profile lease deals in recent years.

Barnes & Noble signed on for a 16K SF ground-floor retail space last year and opened this past January.

This summer, Netflix inked a 19K SF lease for an office and entertainment hub on the first and second floors of the property. In a filing asking the D.C. Zoning Commission to approve Netflix’s plans at the building, Douglas’ lawyer referred to the Woodies Building as “one of the most treasured properties” in its portfolio. 

Last quarter, Woodies secured a 27,600 SF sublease with chipmaker giant Nvidia, Bisnow first reported.

The building, which sits above the Metro Center metro station and spans an entire square block, housed the Woodward & Lothrop flagship department store between the early 1900s and 1990s.

In the years after it closed, Douglas acquired and restored the property into an office and retail building, complete with intricate multicolored engravings, including depictions of Greek god Zeus and his daughters. A deep-blue Douglas Development flag with the company's spiral insignia flies atop the 10-story structure.

Woodies is emblematic of Douglas Development's investment strategy: restoring and reinvigorating unique historic buildings and landmarks to repurpose them for modern living.

Douglas Jemal began buying up D.C. properties in the 1980s and has amassed a giant portfolio in the city, even as it has recently been steadily offloading various assets across the D.C. area, a Bisnow investigation found in February. 

Meanwhile, Douglas Jemal’s youngest son, Matthew Jemal, is amassing a portfolio of office buildings in and around D.C.’s core, taking advantage of depressed values in the wake of the pandemic.

In just over a year, that company has purchased at least four D.C. office buildings. It bought a Navy Yard office building from Polinger Co. in June, and just last week, it closed on a Dupont Circle office building, which it purchased from BXP for $92.4M, D.C. deed records show.