Rosslyn-Ballston Office Trades for $113M

ARLINGTON, VA-The Hartford, a 212,443-square foot office building located at the Clarendon metrorail station in the Rosslyn-Courthouse-Ballston Corridor has traded for $112.6 million. An institutional investor acquired the fully occupied, nine-story building from Angelo, Gordon & Co., according to Jones Lang LaSalle, which handled the sale. Collins Ege, John Kevill, Jim Molloy and Sean McDermott brokered the transaction. 

Not surprisingly, given the submarket’s fundamentals, pricing was on par with building trades in Downtown DC, noted Ege. Cap rate compression was as much as 175 basis points for this deal, according to a source. Indeed, pricing in this part of Northern Virginia has remained relatively solid even during the depths of the recession. MRP Realty, along with Angelo, Gordon & Co., acquired The Hartford from Multi-Employer Property Trust in July 2009 for roughly $72 million and a 8.5% cap rate. 

Then in October, 4501 N. Fairfax in Arlington traded at an 8.1% cap rate, posting a 40 basis point compression, says Bill Prutting Jr. of CBRE, noted in an interview with GlobeSt.com last year. Fast forward to April 2010, when AEW’s purchased Three Ballston Plaza, a 304,166 square foot building at 1100 North Glebe Road that is almost across the street from 4501 N. Fairfax, for $121.25 million. That priced at a 7% cap rate, Prutting said. 

The Hartford traded at a cap rate comparable to what a class A property would have traded Downtown, Kevill tells GlobeSt.com, although he declined to discuss specifics. "This was something we discussed with our client when the property was selling - could a building here price as aggressively as the ones Downtown," he says. "We believed it could."

The submarket’s lease market is also strong. Coincidentally, Cassidy Turley announced Wednesday that Jacobs Engineering Group signed a 96,096 square foot renewal and expansion lease at Three Ballston Plaza. Cassidy Turley’s Chris Sowick, Spencer Stouffer and David Scully handled the transaction for AEW Capital. Lou Christopher and Eric Olofson of Cushman & Wakefield represented Jacobs Engineering Group.