WASHINGTON, DC-A sale that has been much discussed and closely watched, 1899 Pennsylvania Ave. has traded hands. Paramount Group in New York is the buyer. Although a spokeswoman for Paramount told GlobeSt.com that she couldn't confirm the price, a source tells GlobeSt.com that the contract has closed on the 186,462-square-foot building at $812 per square foot, or $151.1 million.
Paramount has been cited in numerous news accounts as the lead contender for the building ever since Frankfurt-based KanAm Grund Kapitalanlagegesellschaft put the trophy property on the market this summer. GlobeSt.com had also reported that an overseas buyer was closing in on the property. Designed by Leo A. Daly, the 11-story building is fully leased.
Assuming the deal does close at $812 per square foot, it becomes the second to top $800 since the start of the credit crisis. The other was also a KanAm property: the 227,000-square-foot Evening Star building, which traded for close to $180 million.
Few expect to see buildings start to regularly trade at this price point, but another deal is not inconceivable. Jones Lang LaSalle, which marketed both 1899 Pennsylvania and the Evening Star, is going out on the market with Brookfield’s 1225 Connecticut Ave., which is fully leased by the World Bank. It is hoping to break the $800 per square foot barrier with this building as well.
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