2 CRE Assets Trade in Suburban Maryland

ROCKVILLE, MD-Two back-to-back separate transactions closed in suburban Maryland, illustrating the strong demand for a variety of assets here. In one deal, Weingarten Realty Investors expanded its fledgling DC-area footprint, taking the shopping center, Pike Center, for $54 million. In Bethesda, a joint venture between Lowe Enterprises and Angelo Gordon purchased Executive Plaza, a two-structure fully leased (for now) office building for $36.75 million.

Pike Center is the Dallas-based Weingarten’s second trade in the greater DC area. The company hopes to own six, seven or even eight assets in the area, president and CEO Drew Alexander, tells GlobeSt.com. “Our long-term strategy is to invest as much as we can here on a risk-adjusted basis.” This particular building, he adds, “is an incredible property with a tremendous amount of frontage.”

It acquired Pike Center from JBG Cos. and JBG Rosenfeld Retail. It is an 81,300 square foot, community shopping center with, as Alexander said, extensive frontage along Rockville Pike. Pike Center should provide WRI with approximately a 6% return on the investment, Alexander said. It also offers additional upside when the property is redeveloped at some point in the future.

The other trade occurred when Prudential Financial sold Executive Plaza to the JV. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Jim Molloy and Jason DeWitt brokered the deal, which is a value-add play. The property’s sole tenant, National Cancer Institute, is vacating for a build-to-suit in the fall of 2013. The new owners are repositioning it, Molloy tells GlobeSt.com.

“The property was built with some foresight--it has high ceilings, for instance, which means it can be renovated for different types of tenants,” he says. The new owners will invest about $7 million to $8 million in the renovation. Executive Plaza is located at 6120 and 6130 Executive Blvd. in North Bethesda. The eight-story buildings are 177,171 and 151,557 square feet, respectively. The property was built in 1985 and 1987. It will be leased through September 2013.