The developer of a Shaw project that was planned as condos sold it as an apartment building after receiving an offer it couldn't refuse.

Monument Realty sold The Shaw, a 69-unit building at 618 T St. NW, to a joint venture of Japanese investor Shimizu Realty Development and Capital Security Advisors for $49M, in a deal posted Friday to the D.C. Recorder of Deeds and announced by JLL.

JLL's Walter Coker, Brian Crivella and Robert Jenkins brokered the sale. While the developer designed and constructed the building with plans to sell the units as condos, Monument founder Michael Darby told Bisnow it kept the option to switch it to apartments if an interested buyer came along.

“We got an offer we couldn’t refuse, and we said we’d be crazy not to take it because it’s the middle of a pandemic and this is a great buyer, and we felt the price was a really good price," Darby said. "We could have gone ahead and finished the condos off, but the price that we got was an equivalent price when you do all the math on it.”

Monument built the project in partnership with Westbrook Partners. The building is substantially complete with only minor finishing touches remaining, said Darby, adding that the buyer will soon begin leasing the units.

The eight-story project features 7,400 SF of retail. The building sits across the street from the Howard Theatre and within two blocks of the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.

While it converted the Shaw project to apartments because of the sale offer, Monument continues to see strong activity on another condo project it is close to completing in D.C.

The developer is less than two months away from delivering its Avidian condo project near Nationals Park and has sold 120 of the 156 market-rate units, Darby said.

“That is going phenomenally, we’re selling quite a lot during this time,” Darby said. “The reason is it’s a great building that’s competitive with large rental buildings as far as amenities, and with interest rates where they are today, people are looking and saying it’s time to buy.”

Monument Realty also expects to break ground within the next 60 days on a 310-unit apartment project it has planned at 40 Patterson St. NE in NoMa. It acquired that site in December 2018, and in July 2019, D.C. awarded Monument the development rights for the adjacent site at 2 Patterson St. NE.

Darby said Monument has secured an agreement with a lender and is in the process of finalizing the loan documents for the 40 Patterson site, allowing it to break ground within the next two months. He said the coronavirus pandemic created a slight delay for that project.

“We slowed down a little bit, looking around to see what was going on with the market,” Darby said. “We feel comfortable the market is still there and we’re moving forward with finalizing financing to begin construction of the project.”

Contact Jon Banister at jon.banister@bisnow.com.