This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet
Demolition has begun on the former Landmark Mall, paving the way for a massive new mixed-use development.
Executives from Foulger-Pratt, The Howard Hughes Corp. and Seritage Growth Properties were joined Thursday by Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson to celebrate the start of work on the 4M SF WestEnd Alexandria development.
At full build-out, the development partners plan to construct 2,500 apartments, 125K SF of medical office buildings and almost 235K SF of retail space, including restaurants.
Inova is set to invest $1B in a medical campus on the property, which is slated to include a 235-bed hospital, a 107K SF cancer center and an 88K SF specialty care center.
The developers will demolish all structures except for a parking garage at the former mall site. They expect construction on the new buildings to begin next year and plan to deliver the first residential buildings in 2025.
SALES
CGI Merchant Group has officially closed on its acquisition of the lease for the Old Post Office Building at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., formerly the Trump International Hotel. The deal price, $375M, is the highest ever for a D.C. hotel, beating a 6-year-old record. It also represents a tidy profit for Trump, despite investigations into his ownership of the property. The new owners are partnering with Hilton to transform the hotel into D.C.’s first Waldorf Astoria.
LEASES
Cushman & Wakefield announced this week it would switch floors in its current D.C. headquarters building, signing a 38K SF lease in the JBG Smith-owned property at 2101 L St. NW. Cushman & Wakefield’s Kurt Richter and Sally Wills assisted in lease negotiations. The brokerage firm has retained Gensler Design Lab and HGA to design its new office, which is located near the Foggy Bottom Metro station.
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The D.C. Housing Authority’s board of commissioners has authorized two new leases for the quasi-independent government agency, paving the way for the redevelopment of its current headquarters in NoMa. Under the newly approved leases, DCHA’s main office would move to 300 Seventh St. SW, occupying 52K SF in the new WMATA headquarters building. The agency’s Office of Public Safety would also move to a 14K SF lease at 1515 New York Ave. NE. The redevelopment of DCHA’s current HQ at 1133 North Capitol St. NE is planned to include 1,200 residential units, 244 of which would be affordable, according to the most recently available plans.
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Clark Construction is preparing to open a 128K SF office in Tysons as part of a major new commitment to Virginia. The national firm will maintain a 29K SF footprint in Bethesda, where it has been based for years. The Tysons office, located in Brookfield Properties’ Silverline Center at 7900 Westpark Drive, allows it to double down on the Virginia market, where it has recently embarked on major projects like The Boro and the first phase of Amazon’s HQ2. Clark’s expansion is also set to include another office in central Virginia.
CONSTRUCTION MILESTONES
Leaders from Gilbane, Amazon, WMATA and Prince George’s County celebrated the groundbreaking of the Atworth in College Park on Wednesday. The development is located at 4201 River Road, adjacent to the College Park Metro station. Backed by a $56.3M loan from Amazon, all 451 units in the project are affordable for those making up to 80% of the area median income. The Amazon funding came from a $125M partnership with WMATA to support affordable transit-oriented development.
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Standard Communities announced it would celebrate the reopening of the Ritch Homes Apartments at 1420 R St. NW on Tuesday. The 42-unit, 100% affordable development near Logan Circle underwent an $8M renovation after Standard partnered with the D.C. Housing Authority and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development to rehabilitate the property. As part of the renovations, Standard updated common areas and added four units to the property.
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JPMorgan unveiled its new regional headquarters in D.C.’s Bowen Building on Monday. The office takes up over six floors of the 12-floor, 231K SF building at 875 15th St. NW. Leadership for JPMorgan said the footprint is more than double what they initially planned when they purchased the building in 2018 for $140M. The enlarged footprint is focused on collaboration, with an emphasis on hoteling and flexible spaces.
FINANCING
Linden Property Group has acquired River Bay Townhomes, a 173-unit multifamily community in Lexington Park, Maryland. It secured $19.45M in financing for the deal, arranged by JLL Capital Markets. The JLL team advising Linden was led by Senior Managing Director Jamie Leachman, Director Amit Kakar and analyst Carter Wroblewski, according to a press release. The property, located at 48100 Baywoods Drive in St. Mary’s County, was developed in 2004 and 2005 using Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Most of the units — 155 out of 173 — are reserved for those making up to 60% of the area median income.
PERSONNEL
Tim McCann is joining Virginia-based Cobalt Real Estate Solutions, an affiliate of Divaris Real Estate, as chief investment officer, the firm announced this week. McCann will help lead the firm as it embarks on a $50M equity funding round and adds $150M worth of properties to its portfolio. Prior to his new position, McCann spent 10 years as a senior vice president of acquisitions and capital markets at Broad Street Realty and three years as a managing director at Transwestern, according to his LinkedIn profile.
