WASHINGTON, DC—If PRP LLC's plans to convert its newly-acquired office building at2501 M St., NW into a luxury residential condo sound vaguelyfamiliar that is because the transaction is part of a growing trendin the area. Increasingly, office buildings are being acquired withan eye to being redeveloped into another use, typically apartmentsor condos but occasionally schools or hotels. There have been 19such acquisitions in DC and surrounding environs in the last fewyears, with a few outliers having occurred in 2004 and 2005,according to JLL who tallied up thetransactions.

"Developers are acquiring buildings that are functionalityobsolete or in functionally obsolete locations to reposition intonew uses," JLL Research Director Scott Homa tellsGlobeSt.com.

"It makes more sense in many cases to take these assets and goin a completely different direction rather than add new rooftop ortake a C office building and upgrade it to B status, for example,"he says.