StonebridgeCarras, PN Hoffman Partner on $200M Project

BETHESDA, MD-StonebridgeCarras and PN Hoffman are developing a $200 million mixed-use project here together with Montgomery County. Northwest Mutual is providing some of the debt and equity in the project, Matthew Ascher, director of the company’s real estate investments, tells GlobeSt.com. The life insurance company was attracted to the project, called Lot 31, because of its location. “I don’t think you could have created a better site for retail and multifamily in all of Washington, DC,” he adds. “It is a phenomenal opportunity for us.”

The project, which will be located at the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, calls for the redevelopment of Montgomery County’s two surface parking lots into 250 residential units and 40,000 square feet of street retail. All of this will be built above a public parking garage that will accommodate approximately 950 cars. It is expected to break ground in January 2012.

The county, which will own the parking garage, is kicking in some financing as well, Ascher says. The JV is providing about $150 million and Northwest Mutual is providing the rest in a combination of debt and equity. Buvermo Investments is also investing with StonebridgeCarras and PN Hoffman in this project.

The Darcy, an 88-unit condo building, and the Flats, a 162-unit apartment building, will be part of the project. Condo sales from the Darcy have been higher than expected. PN Hoffman reports that there are agreements for more than a third the units in place. As a general rule, a condo project is not something in which Northwest Mutual would have invested, Ascher says. “But this is a very conservatively structured deal and given the location we decided to move forward.”

HFF’s Stephen Conley, Dave Nachison, Alan Davis, Mark Remington and Dan McIntyre represented StonebridgeCarras and PN Hoffman in the deal.