Monument Realty Plots $40M Office Condos  

WASHINGTON, DC-Monument Realty is poised to begin development early next year on an office condo building in Chinatown, assuming various contracts it is negotiating with prospective buyers fall into place. The company just closed on an 8,000-square-foot lot in Chinatown, acquiring the note on the property for $11.5 million. Eagle Bank was the seller of the loan.

The lot, located at 627-631 H St., NW, is a few feet away from the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station. It is zoned DD/C-3-C, which allows for up to 80,000 square feet of commercial or residential use development. Monument acquired the note with the intention of marketing the property for a prelease or build-to-suit development. Ultimately, its goal is to build an office building with ground floor retail. 

Based on the interest it is currently fielding from association groups, more than likely Monument will be developing office condos, principal Michael Darby tells GlobeSt.com. "We are speaking with several that would more than fill the space in such a building." He hopes to have contracts signed with 180 days and to break ground by early 2011. Development costs would be approximately $40 million. 

Monument Realty purchased the loan through a new investment fund it has formed with a New York investment group. In fact this is the fourth transaction it has closed with this fund, Darby says. It also contracted to buy land in Springfield, VA and in Arlington, VA, as well as another interest in a Chinatown project. "We are on a major acquisition spree right now," he says. 

The lot is now owned by a LLC called Gallery Square. Monument and an affiliate of this LCC have partnered to develop the neighboring Gallery Tower property at 675 H St., NW--a property that is currently in bankruptcy. Monument Realty has been proposed as the developer in a reorganization plan currently pending before the bankruptcy court. The note for the new lot it acquired is not part of the bankruptcy, Darby says. 

Other deals Monument has closed this year include the sale of Randolph Square, a 190,000-square-foot office for $47.9 million; the Palatine, a 262-unit luxury apartment building, traded for $118 million; and Monument Corporate Center I, a 200,000-square-foot office building, sold in January. Monument Realty has also restarted the renovation of Potomac Place Tower, a 396-unit condominium in Southwest Washington, DC.