D.C. Office Building Commands $180M

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

733 10th St., Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.—A joint venture between Investcorp and ScanlanKemperBard has acquired 733 10th St., a 170,813-square-foot luxury office building located in the heart of Washington, D.C.’s East End office submarket, from Jamestown LP for approximately $180 million.

“We are the most active, private Gulf-based investor in U.S. real estate, and Washington, D.C. is consistently ranked near the top of the list of the most desirable markets for global real estate investors,” Brian Kelley, Investcorp principal of real estate investment, told Commercial Property Executive. “This particular property suits a new initiative around high quality, core properties which offer stable cash yield in combination with long-term hold potential.”

The LEED Gold-certified building was 100 percent occupied at the time of the sale. The acquisition is the first under a new initiative focused on core-quality, long-term hold assets in key gateway markets.

“733 10th is a resilient asset which should demonstrate a high degree of value retention through all market cycles—particularly given our relatively conservative capital structure (55% leverage),” Kelley said. “We like the building’s tenancy, floor-plate efficiency, amenities, and views as well as its proximity to transportation (all six metro lines) as well as area retail, hospitality, entertainment, and residential offerings.”

The East End submarket is one of the most vibrant areas in D.C. Nearby retail, hospitality, entertainment, and residential offerings are among the best and most extensive in the market. The building is also within a block of all six metro lines.

According to Kelley, Investcorp takes a flexible approach to investing, providing common equity, preferred equity, senior debt, mezzanine debt, or a combination in response to changing market opportunities and the needs of each transaction.

“In recent years, our focus has been on cash-flowing core-plus or value-add type opportunities, and that will continue to be the primary focus of our platform,” he said. “As an adjacency to that business, we occasionally identify interesting, stable, long-term hold opportunities, like 733 10th Street, which will generate attractive cash yield, but which is more of a core opportunity.”

Investcorp plans on addressing some very minor capital items identified during its due diligence process.

Since 1996, Investcorp has completed over 400 property investments totaling more than $13 billion in value.

Image courtesy of Skanska USA