Douglas Sells Alexandria, Riverdale Park Properties: The D.C. Deal Sheet
Douglas Development Corp. sold an industrial building in Alexandria four years after acquiring it.
The local real estate firm offloaded the 102K SF industrial building at 950 S. Picket St. in Alexandria to national co-warehousing operator WareSpace, JLL’s John Dettleff announced on LinkedIn on Thursday.
The parties didn’t announce the sale price, and the deal doesn’t appear in property records, but records show Douglas bought it in 2021 for $22.9M. The Washington Business Journal reported WareSpace paid $19.5M.
WareSpace CEO Levi Cohen said in a release that it acquired the building as part of its effort to “solve the critical shortage of small warehouse space in America’s most dynamic markets.” It plans to lease out individual warehouse units ranging from 200 SF to 2K SF with month-to-month deals, and it will offer amenities like conference space, a kitchen, WiFi and climate control.
“Alexandria offers unparalleled access to the D.C. metro area, and this infill location will provide the infrastructure that small businesses need to scale without the red tape of traditional industrial leases,” Cohen said.
SALES
Douglas Development also sold an 11-acre office park at 6811 Kenilworth Ave. and 5711 Sarvis Ave. in Riverdale Park for $6.3M to the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association, the Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday. The property, sitting near a future Purple Line station and less than a mile from College Park’s Discovery District, is listed by the county as a redevelopment opportunity.
Douglas Capital Markets and Structured Finance Manager Ryan Ferguson led the firm's efforts on the Alexandria and Riverdale Park sales.
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A joint venture of Real Capital Solutions and Silverline Equities acquired the two-building Tysons Pointe complex at 8300 Greensboro Drive and 1600 International Drive in McLean for $57.1M in a court-appointed receivership sale, RCS announced. U.S. Bank took control of the building from Rockpoint, which had paid $90M for it in 2017, the WBJ reported. Transwestern announced Wednesday the buyer retained its team of Spencer Stouffer, Tony Womack, Bernie McKeever Jr. and Megan Rearden to lease the 75%-occupied building.
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Van Metre sold the Oaklawn apartment building at 3620 16th St. NW for $15M, according to D.C. deed records posted Monday. The buyer, an entity controlled by Ernst Equities founder Felipe Ernst and Jonathan Lustgarten, obtained an $11.3M loan from Hingham Institution of Savings, deed records show. The seven-story, 83-unit building was constructed in 1930.
FINANCING
Lionheart Capital, a Miami-based firm that acquired Virginia’s Manassas Mall in 2020, has secured a $28.7M bridge loan on the property as it prepares a major development, Cushman & Wakefield announced. The brokerage firm's equity, debt and structured finance team brokered the deal, and The Ardent Cos. provided the loan. The owner received rezoning approval earlier this month to add 1.8M SF of mixed-use development to the site, including over 1,000 multifamily units. The 942K SF mall was developed in 1972 and last renovated in 2016.
The Wharf’s new owner, Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, obtained a loan of more than $1B from Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Bisnow first reported Monday. PSP is investing nearly $60M in equity as part of the deal to refinance previous debt from The Wharf’s two phases. The manager of the 3.3M SF waterfront mixed-use property, District Wharf Properties, announced the deal Friday, calling it D.C.’s largest-ever private real estate transaction. Eastdil Secured brokered the deal.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Banyan Street Capital launched an $8M renovation to the office building at 1250 H St. NW, it announced this week. The Miami-based firm acquired the nearly 200K SF building for $27.5M in December from Equity Commonwealth, which was offloading its last D.C. asset amid its liquidation. To improve the 33-year-old building, Banyan Street plans to redo the lobby, upgrade the entrance, add electric vehicle chargers to the parking garage and build out three spec suites ranging from 3K SF to 6K SF. Collective Architects is designing the lobby renovation, and Cushman & Wakefield is managing the leasing efforts.
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Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday joined the The Stacks’ development team to celebrate the ribbon-cutting on the first phase of the massive Buzzard Point mixed-use project. The team includes Akridge, National Real Estate Development, Blue Coast Capital, Bridge Investment Group and National Real Estate Advisors. The developers delivered more than 1,100 apartments across three buildings, plus 40K SF of retail and an 11K SF coworking space from Launch Workplaces. The buildings have 90K SF of shared amenities, and the project has 22K SF of public outdoor space.
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Bowser also joined Republic Properties Corp. on Monday for the groundbreaking of a 356-unit apartment building at 1301 Maryland Ave. SW. The $260M project was funded with $60M of equity from Republic, a $137M loan from Kennedy Wilson and $58M from Pearlmark. CBRE brokered the loan, WDG Architecture designed the building, and Balfour Beatty is the general contractor. It represents the final phase of the Portals mixed-use complex, which also has an office-to-residential conversion project that obtained financing last week.
