In-Rel Properties Buys DC-Area Office Building

The office building at 7500 Old Georgetown Road underwent significant renovations in 1999. Image by John Cole Photography, courtesy of In-Rel Properties

In-Rel Properties has acquired 7500 Old Georgetown Road in downtown Bethesda, Md., a 16-story, 335,000-square-foot Class A office building.

The firm paid just under $30 million for the asset, according to CommercialEdge information. The seller, Stonebridge Associates, had acquired it in fall 2019 for $133.7 million.

The property, which is currently 40 percent leased, marks In-Rel’s first acquisition in the D.C. area. Also known as the Clark Building, it was completed in 1984, renovated in 1999 and is LEED Silver certified.

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As its first steps, In-Rel plans to open an onsite management office and undertake an aggressive leasing strategy. Leasing is now being handled by Gwen Dominguez and Ben Powell of Cushman & Wakefield.

The building is adjacent to Bethesda Station on the Red Line Metro and has 294 underground parking spaces—and for a more unusual transportation possibility, features a rooftop helipad.

In-Rel specializes in revitalizing troubled office buildings and currently operates in six states with 3.5 million square feet under management.

Uphill battle?

In-Rel faces local market conditions that are mediocre at best, according to a third-quarter report from Cushman & Wakefield. The Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., are seeing low or negative net absorption, despite unemployment figures in the region that are well below the national average.

Two hits to the Bethesda/Chevy Chase submarket were Microsoft leaving 57,560 square feet at 5404 Wisconsin Ave., as part of consolidating its offices in the region, and the April disbandment of 51-year-old law firm Paley Rothman, which vacated 26,558 square feet at 4800 Hampden Lane, Cushman & Wakefield reported.

Fortunately, there’s little office product in the submarket’s development pipeline, just one building of 276,000 square feet, about two-thirds preleased by Choice Hotels and Sodexo.

This past April, Spitzer Enterprises completed its $10 million-plus repositioning of 4800 Hampden Lane, a 185,000-square-foot Class A office building in Bethesda. The property is within walking distance of 7500 Old Georgetown.