Evening Star Sale Illustrates District's Appeal 

WASHINGTON, DC-A recent trade in the District illustrates that the city’s well-located assets are still holding value with pricing. TIAA-CREF acquired the 227,000-square-foot Evening Star Building from KamAm partnership for close to $180 million. 

The building is close to 90% occupied, with such tenants as TIAA, Citigroup, International Paper and the FBI. Located at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, it was brokered by Jones Lang LaSalle, which fielded offers from a range of institutional investors. The sales price, at slightly under $793 per square foot, is among the highest in the District--topped only by such notable and outlier transactions as Vornado Realty Trust’s sale last year of the 12-story, 250,000-square-foot office, 1999 K. Sold to Germany-based Deka Immobilian GmbH, that trade clocked in at $830 per square foot or $208 million. 

Evening Star’s sales price is definitely a leading indicator that the best office product in DC is still eagerly sought by the largest investment funds, JLL’s John Kevill tells GlobeSt.com. He says that when JLL priced the asset and then determined who the potential bidders would be, they didn’t compare it to other US cities. "We compared it to London, Tokyo and Paris--gateway cities around the world that are truly supply constrained."

At the end of the day, Kevill says, their instincts were correct: "pricing and the view of value in DC is no different than any of those other cities."