WASHINGTON, DC-MetLife has closed a $250-million transaction for the Washington Square building here, owned by Lerner Enterprises and Tower Cos. MetLife did not return a call requesting comment in time for publication. Brian Casey, Steve Taylor and Linda Lyon of MetLife’s Washington, DC office worked on the transaction.
The transaction is very much a typical deal for a life insurance company such as MetLife, which has a strong book of commercial mortgage origination. Year to date, the company has originated some $8 billion in loans. Like all life companies, it looks for well-located assets with a strong sponsor. The DC area, preferably the CBD and/or East End, are favored submarkets.
In many respects, Washington Square, located at 1050 Connecticut Ave., NW, fits the bill perfectly. It recently underwent a major $14-million renovation, which delivered at the beginning of the year. The 12-story, one-million-square-foot office building is occupied by several law firms, including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, which announced at the start of the year that it was expanding its space there to 205,000 square feet. At the time, with the expansion, the building had 43,000 square feet available for occupancy with an additional 230,000 square feet expected to become available in 2013.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
