Mitsui Fudosan Inks Office Lease at DC Trophy Asset
This historic building near the White House will be getting about $25 million in renovations.
BGR Group has renewed and expanded its lease at the Homer Building in Washington, D.C. The lobbying and public affairs firm will occupy more than 40,000 square feet at the historic 12-story, 460,000-square-foot property owned by Mitsui Fudosan America Inc. Transwestern represented the tenant, while JLL negotiated on behalf of the landlord.
MFA, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s largest real estate company, Mitsui Fudosan Co., acquired an 80 percent stake in the asset in late 2011 from Investa, which had owned the controlling interest since 2005. Commercial Property Executive reported at the time that Kann Sons Co. and 13th and G Street Ltd., an Akridge entity, each owned a 10 percent stake in the property.
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Located three blocks from the White House and directly above the Metro Center station in the D.C.’s East End neighborhood, the 110-year-old iconic office building at 601 13th St. NW is slated to undergo a $25 million renovation plan. The previous refurbishment was completed in 1990 by Akridge, a D.C.-based commercial real estate services company and the asset’s property manager.
Renovations and leasing activity
The Homer Building came online in 1914, according to CommercialEdge information. The LEED Gold-certified property features 38,000-square-foot floorplates and some 45,400 square feet of retail. Amenities include a 12 story, sky-lit atrium, landscaped rooftop terrace, fitness center and valet parking, among others.
The renovation process will add several new tenant amenities. Upgrades will include a new two-story boardroom for more than 150 people that will be built in the atrium lobby, as well as an indoor glass enclosure that will be added to the roof terrace, available for meetings and events.
Industrious is one of the building’s tenants, having leased 40,653 square feet on the 12th floor. SMBC and Rio Tinto also inked new lease agreements over the past 12 months for The Guerry, pre-built spec suites on the property’s ninth floor.
Evan Behr, Doug Mueller, Jeanette Ko, Kristen Mathis and Meghan Murray comprised the JLL team that represented MFA in the transaction with BGR. Transwestern’s John Schlegel and John Lugar represented BGR.
MFA’s U.S. growth
Headquartered in New York City, MFA has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Honolulu. The firm currently owns almost 10 million square feet of commercial space with more than 4 million square feet in development as well as hospitality and residential assets.
In Manhattan, MFA completed the 58-story 50 Hudson Yards office tower in October 2022. The firm owns the majority interest in both 50 Hudson Yards and 55 Hudson Yards, part of the Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group’s $25 billion Hudson Yards project on the Far West Side.
In Washington, D.C., MFA also owns 1200 17 St. NW, an 11-story, 170,000-square-foot office building developed with Akridge and completed in September 2014.
More recently, the company has been expanding its presence in the U.S. industrial market. Earlier this month, MFA and Tishman Speyer acquired a 60-acre site in Peabody, Mass., with plans to redevelop it with four warehouses totaling about 700,000 square feet. In January, the partnership acquired a 32-acre development site in Irvine, Calif., where it will develop four industrial buildings.
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