Brookfield Sells Southwest Waterfront Development Sites
Two prime plots next to the Waterfront Metro station that have been slated for development for two decades are on a new path forward after they sold last week.
Transwestern Development Co. purchased two parcels at Fourth and M streets SW from Brookfield, D.C. deed records filed Wednesday show, and the companies confirmed to Bisnow. TDC paid $6.5M apiece for the plots at 375 and 425 M St. SW, which span 100K SF.
The vacant sites at Fourth and M are approved for two mixed-use multifamily buildings with about 600 residential units. The second-stage Planned Unit Development approval, which Brookfield extended in the summer of 2023, expires in early 2027.
“The sale enables us to recycle capital and allocate resources efficiently in line with our strategy while positioning Waterfront Station for development,” a Brookfield spokesperson said in a statement.
Now, TDC will be taking over the parcels, which have been eyed for development but have sat inactive for two decades.
A spokesperson for TDC said the company partnered with Bethesda-based Junction Development on the acquisition and is “evaluating potential development plans.”
“We do not have any additional details to share at this time, but we look forward to engaging with the community in the near future,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Berkadia’s Brian Crivella, Yalda Ghamarian and Bill Gribbin were the brokers on the property listing. Crivella declined to comment.
Brookfield inherited the sites at Fourth and M from Forest City when it acquired the company in 2018.
Attempts to develop them date back to the early 2000s, when Forest City and two other partners embarked on a project to redevelop 13 acres adjacent to the Waterfront Metro station. The land had formerly been home to the 1970s-era Waterside Mall, which notoriously housed the Environmental Protection Agency until its lease expired in 2002.
The rest of the 13-acre site has been developed with six buildings featuring around 1,300 residential units, 120K SF of retail — including a Safeway grocery store — and 50K SF of public space.
But 375 and 425 M, which were originally approved for office in 2007, then mixed-use residential in 2018, never got off the ground.
During that time, D.C.'s Zoning Commission has extended the parcels’ approvals three times, the most recent of which came in 2023. Brookfield said at the time it had been unable to secure financing to start construction for the first building at 375 M St. SW and thus wouldn't meet the deadline to submit a building permit by Jan. 31, 2024.
As the sites sat undeveloped, they found themselves at the heart of a debate about affordability and equity in an area of the city that experienced the adverse effects of post-war urban renewal.
Brookfield had originally put the parcels on the market in the spring of 2022, a process that didn't result in a sale.
But the marketing caught the attention of activist groups that, concerned about the rapid proliferation of pricey apartment buildings in the area, began advocating for them to be transferred to community ownership.
In 2023, two local groups petitioned Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office to acquire the sites and hand them over to Douglass Community Land Trust, which would allow local residents to own the property and decide its fate, Bisnow reported at the time. SW DC Action gathered over 1,000 signatures in support of the plan.
The properties are among a growing number of D.C. development sites that have gone up for sale this year as developers have struggled to secure financing in an environment with high interest rates and economic headwinds facing the District.
