WASHINGTON, DC-Rockrose Development Corp., a New York based real estate company, is set to acquire an office building and hopes to have another office building in the District under contract soon too, Craig Deitelzweig, head of the Office Division for Rockrose, tells GlobeSt.com. Both buildings will be off-market trades, he says. The company has acquired three office buildings in the area in recent years and has been thrilled with their performance. "We love DC," Deitelzweig says. "All of the buildings we have acquired have exceeded our expectations and our underwriting."

The company has acquired 1900 M St., NW, 1150 18th St., NW, and 1776 Eye St., NW.

At 1150 18th St., Rockrose has inked about 113,000 square feet in leases in the last year and a half, he says. "Rents are almost $10 above where we underwrote." The company just secured two leases at 1900 M St., which takes the building to 95% occupancy. At 1776 Eye St., Rockrose is in the process of redeveloping the building into a trophy-class office with a new two-story lobby.

Rockrose secured two law firms for the space at 1900 M St: Guerrieri, Clayman, Bartos & Parcelli, P.C., which is taking 4,303 square feet and Sherman, Meehan, Curtin & Ain, which is renewing its lease of 14,515 square feet for an additional five years. Cushman & Wakefield's Michael Katcher, Scott Russi and Theo Slagle represented Rockrose in both transactions. Ganon Rich of West, Lane & Schlager Realty Advisors represented Guerrieri, Clayman, Bartos & Parcelli. Sherman Meehan was represented by Aaron Katz and Mike Shuler of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

Rockrose has only been in the DC market for a few years but its criteria of what constitutes an attractive office acquisition has already changed. These days, Deitelzweig says, "we are avoiding buildings with government tenants."