Tishman Speyer Shops Around in DC

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Paul De Martini, Tishman Speyer

Two adjoining properties in the Washington, D.C., central business district are the latest acquisitions by Tishman Speyer, which will redevelop them with two new buildings, one of which will be home to CBS News’ D.C. bureau, the developer announced Tuesday.

Financials on the transactions, which closed simultaneously last week, were not disclosed, nor were the price tags on the two new buildings. The Washington Business Journal, however, reported on Tuesday that public records indicated a price of $30.5 million for the property at 2020 M St. NW and about $49 million for the adjacent one at 2030 M St. NW.

The 2020 building, which currently houses CBS News’ D.C. bureau, was owned by CBS, which was the sole occupant. The site is about 20,000 square feet, including the parking lot where the new structure will be built while the existing building remains. CBS will move, and the existing building will be demolished, only once the new building is up and occupied.

In an internal memo last September, CBS News brass anticipated having the new building operational soon after the 2017 presidential inauguration.

The sellers of the 122,000-square-foot Class B 2030 building, according to the WBJ, were The Legacy Fund and the National Association of Attorneys General Mission Foundation Inc. The latter group occupies offices on the building’s eighth floor.

In the redevelopment’s second phase, the 2030 building (on a 17,000-square-foot site) will be replaced by a considerably larger multi-tenant Class A office building, tentatively slated for completion in late 2019.

“The demand in Washington, D.C., for new Class A trophy-level office space is strong and will become stronger over the next several years,” Paul De Martini, regional managing director for Tishman Speyer, said in a release. “We were pleased to find such a well-located site that we’ll be able to redevelop to help meet that demand.”

Earlier speculation that Tishman would combine the sites appears not to have been accurate. It’s therefore possible that buying adjoining properties simply will make it more affordable to redevelop these infill sites.

Barely a month ago, Tishman bought the 19-story, 290,000-square-foot Class A office building at 160 Spear St. in San Francisco’s South Financial District, only a block from the Transbay Transit Center.

And in mid-January, Tishman announced plans to begin work later this year on a two-building mixed-use project in Boston, the company’s first development there. The project is to comprise a 13-story building with about 350,000 square feet of Class A office space, plus some retail; a nine-story, 100-unit luxury residential condo building; a three-level underground parking structure; and a one-acre public park.