WASHINGTON, DC—Columbia Property Trust is under contract to sell its 49% stake in Market Square to Blackstone Property Partners, the Atlanta-based REIT has announced. The terms of the joint venture stipulate a gross value for the asset of $595 million. The terms also stipulate that Columbia will continue to make day-to-day decisions and manage the 686,000-square-foot trophy office property located at 701 and 801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
The transaction is expected to close by early fourth quarter of 2015.
Columbia bought the property, located at 701 and 801 Pennsylvania Ave., in 2011 for $615 million, or $904 per square foot, (it was known as Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II at that time). It was, and still is, among the top trades in the District, which has only occasionally gone past the $1,000 per square foot price point.
More recently, the REIT has been in disposition mode, announcing in July, for example, that it had sold 11 suburban and single-tenant office properties totaling 2.9 million square feet for $433.3 million to an unnamed real estate private equity fund.
It said it planned to use the proceeds to reduce outstanding borrowings, for a net gain of $17 million that would be recognized in the third quarter 2015 results.
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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.
