Somerset Takes 1801 K St. for $250M

WASHINGTON, DC-Carrying a final price tag of $250 million, New York City-based private real estate equity firm Somerset Partners LLC has picked up 1801 K St. NW Commanding nearly $445 per-sf, the 562,300-sf asset’s sale price was within close reach of the average sale price for leading office properties here as of the end of September.

“In the District, prices remain extremely competitive,” Advantis Real Estate Services notes in its most recent office report. “Through the third quarter of 2005, the average sales price for an office building was $414 per-sf, with class A buildings averaging $463 per-sf and class B buildings averaging $338 per sf.”

Occupying a corner lot, the office sits in the city’s central business district in the Street Corridor, which is ground zero for the district’s leading lobbyists. The Holle & Lin-designed building was developed in 1971 and features approximately 50,500 sf of ground-level retail space, as well as a three-level underground parking facility to accommodate more than 350 vehicles.

Additionally, 1801 K holds the distinction of being one of the few large office facilities in Washington, DC that is not predominantly occupied by government agencies. Somerset plans to submit the property–currently 85% occupied and marketed through Woodmark Real Estate Service in the high $30-per-sf range–to a comprehensive renovation that will cost what the company estimates will be about $50 million.