Carr Properties Offloads Bethesda Office Building For $35M
Prominent D.C.-area office landlord Carr Properties has shrunk its portfolio by another building as one of its largest investors negotiates a deal to sell its stake.
Carr sold the 228K SF office building at 4500 East West Highway in Bethesda for $35M, according to a May 5 deed recorded in Maryland property records.
Bethesda-based Peel Properties, the real estate business of the family behind office security firm Datawatch Systems and custodial company Red Coats, was the buyer. Carr developed the nine-story building and delivered it in 2014.
Peel also owns the 174K SF property next door, Bethesda Office Center, which serves as the headquarters for Datawatch. Peel purchased that property for $64M in 2015.
Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Shaun Weinberg announced the sale in a LinkedIn post Tuesday thanking Carr Properties and acknowledging his team members on the deal: Bill Collins, Paul Collins, Drew Flood, Shaun Collins and Kevin Sidney.
“Always appreciate the opportunity to work alongside a sophisticated and market-leading developer/owner,” he said. “Excited to see what the futures brings and their continued success.”
A Carr Properties spokesperson said the firm will continue to manage the property with its Carr Experience platform.
“Carr Properties is pleased to have completed the sale of 4500 East West to Peel Properties and wish them great success with their investment,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The sale comes as Carr is in the process of offloading a series of assets and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which owns a 35.5% share of Carr Properties through a fund it manages on behalf of clients, is planning to exit the ownership group.
Bisnow first reported the pending deal with the J.P. Morgan fund Monday, citing documents filed by Israeli-based public company Alony Hetz that detailed the transaction.
To execute the deal, Carr is planning to turn over three of its properties, debt-free, to the J.P. Morgan fund.
The documents also said Carr was in the process of selling two of its properties and refinancing four, and that Alony Hetz was planning on injecting $100M into Carr this year. It didn't specify which properties it was selling.
Carr appears to have offloaded another D.C.-area property last month. D.C. deed records indicate that the landlord transferred its interest in the 394K SF office building next to its Midtown Center complex to Beacon Capital Partners. The price for that transaction wasn't revealed.
As of March, Carr owned 12 office properties totaling 3.3M SF and has two multifamily projects in development, according to the Alony Hetz filings. 4500 East West wasn't listed on Carr's website as of Monday.
