Local Company Scoops Up Another Building in Downtown D.C.

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Columbia Center – 1152 15th St. NW

Carr Properties continues to expand its presence in D.C. This month, the local real estate investment trust has closed the acquisition of a large Class A office building in the city’s downtown.

Carr’s new property is the 393,815-square-foot Columbia Center, located at 1152 15th St., N.W. The company purchased the asset together with affiliates of the Oliver Carr Co. and Clark Enterprises in a structured transaction. The price was undisclosed, but The Washington Business Journal reported in May that Carr had agreed to buy the building for $138 million.

UBS Global Asset Management was the seller. The Hartford-based entity was represented in the transaction by an HFF investment sales team led by Executive Managing Director Stephen Conley; Senior Managing Directors Jim Meisel, Dek Potts and Andrew Weir; and Associate Director Matthew Nicholson.

The 12-story Columbia Center was completed in 2008 and is currently 94 percent leased, according to HFF. Its two anchors, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Merrill Lynch, both have long-term leases. The building is located in Washington, D.C.’s central business district, adjacent to the to-be-built Fannie Mae headquarters. The property is also next to The Washington Post headquarters, a property Carr purchased last year together with Israel-based Alony Hetz Properties and Investments Ltd. for $159 million.

The new owners did not reveal what their immediate plans are for Columbia Center.

Image courtesy of Wikimapia user Warthog