Logan Circle Sale Could Inspire More

WASHINGTON, DC-Douglas Development Corp. has acquired a retail-and-office building in the District's Logan Circle. While the price for the trade -- $5.37 million -- may not seem that impressive compared to the multi-million sales typically seen in the city, the transaction does point to some interesting trends. More importantly, it provides a rare comp for this neighborhood, which could aid in additional sales.

The four-story retail and office property is located at 1401 14th Street NW. The 10,355-square foot building was built in 1900 and completely renovated in 2002 and 2003. It is now fully leased to such tenants as Urban Essentials, MVS, and Fairchild Consultants. The seller, Clearview 1401 LLC, was represented by CBRE Investment Properties' Marc Rampulla.

This part of the city, for all its vitality and redevelopment in recent years, has not had many buildings come to market. Hence, demand for 1401 14th St., was quite strong, Rampulla tells GlobeSt.com. "Overall we had a little over 50 investors actively looking at it, but most notably that group also included prospective buyers from California, Florida and New York." It is rare for a building of this size to attract national attention, he says.

With the redevelopment going on in the submarket, more buildings are likely to come to market. When they do buyers and sellers will have this comp as a reference point, Rampulla says. Douglas Development, for its part, had to come up with a valuation for the property without a comp. It did so using the building's stabilized NOI and traditional per forma methods, Rampulla says.