ALEXANDRIA, VA-Bethesda, MD-based LCOR found itself selling a four-story, 67,093-square foot building in the Carlyle submarket here after it originally planned to lease the building. What nudged it to the sales table? A better offer from a non-profit that planned to occupy the building than it ever could have realized from a pure play investment purchase, CBRE’s Steve Hoffeditz tells GlobeSt.com.

Hoffeditz, along with colleague Ed Clark, represented LCOR in the sale of 2050 Ballenger Ave., an empty building that is next to the US Patent and Trademark Office Campus. It was acquired by Catholic Charities USA, which purchased it for $24.6 million. The building delivered in 2009. Catholic Charities, which currently has offices in Canal Center, another Alexandria submarket, is working with the city on “creative” uses for the first floor, which is zoned for retail.

LCOR’s original intention to lease the building was based on its analysis that an investor buying the building probably wouldn’t pay the price it needed, Hoffeditz says. The transaction worked out for Catholic Charities as well since there are no other new buildings in Alexandria in the size range it needs. Generally speaking, he says, owner-occupants view a building purchase differently than an investor, which also has to take into account exit strategies and the direction of rental rates in the purchase.