Melrose Solomon Pays $39M for DC-Area Office Building

February 9, 2025

Office Investment Mid-Atlantic News More Washington D.C.

The property last traded in 2018.

Exterior shot of Tavern Square, a 171,738-square-foot property in Old Town Alexandria, Va. The building covers an entire city block. — Completed in 1967, the five-story Tavern Square underwent a full renovation in 2019. *Image courtesy of JLL* *Capital Markets*

An affiliate of Melrose Solomon Enterprises has acquired Tavern Square, a 171,738-square-foot office building in Alexandria, Va.

The property traded for $38.9 million, Washington Business Journal reported. Westport Capital Partners previously owned the asset, according to CommercialEdge information.

JLL Capital Markets worked on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer.

Tavern Square had been under Westport Capital Partners’ ownership since 2018, when the company purchased the property from The Pyne Cos. for $50.4 million, the same source shows.

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Tavern Square occupies an entire city block, enclosing 421 King, 123 N. Pitt, and 110 and 132 N. Royal St., in Old Town Alexandria and some 8 miles from Washington, D.C. The low-rise is also across the street from Courthouse Square, a 120,031-square-foot office building Melrose Solomon Enterprises bought in 2023.

The office national vacancy surged last year and despite some predictions for an uptick in sales volume, the prices are expected to stagnate, a recent CommercialEdge report shows. An initiative such as D.C.’s Office-to-Anything initiative aim to encourage adaptive reuse, with growing interest in converting offices to data centers, industrial spaces and coworking hubs alongside residential projects.

Fully renovated office building

Built in 1967, Tavern Square underwent a full renovation in 2019, adding new features such as a fitness center and a conference center with tenant lounge. The five-story office building includes approximately 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, six passenger elevators and 330 car parking spots.

The property has 23 tenants, including CB Design Group, MODE4 Architecture and Johnson/Citronberg, among others, CommercialEdge shows. The asset was 84 percent leased at the time of the sale.

The JLL Capital Markets team included Senior Managing Director Matt Nicholson, Directors Kevin Byrd and Daniel Naughton, Senior Managing Directors Andrew Weir and Jim Meisel, Senior Director Dave Baker, and Managing Directors Jordan Lex and Dean Sands.