Brookfield Refinances 355 KSF DC Office Building

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund I has received a $95.5 million first mortgage loan for 64 New York Avenue NE, a 355,000 square-foot office building in Washington D.C.

The first mortgage loan was arranged by Mesa West Capital.

“This investment provides us with an opportunity to make another loan on an institutional quality building with a long-term credit lease to a sponsor with substantial cash equity invested in the asset,” Raphael Fishbach, Mesa West Capital Principal, said in a prepared statement.

The Class A office building was built as a warehouse in 1924. Since acquiring the building in 2005, Brookfield has made significant capital improvements to the building’s tenant spaces, common areas and building systems.

64 New York Avenue NE is located in the NoMa submarket, considered one of the fastest growing areas in the District thanks to more than $3 billion of private investment since 2004.

The property was awarded LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2011 and has earned an Energy Star label every year since 2009.

It is currently 45 percent occupied by the District of Columbia who recently signed a new long-term lease and Brookfield is actively marketing the remaining space.

According to Fishbach, the loan will be used to refinance the existing debt as well as provide for capital costs associated with the recent improvements and District of Columbia lease. In addition, the loan includes a holdback to fund the costs associated with leasing up the remaining vacancy.

Since mid-2010, Mesa West Capital has funded close to $350 million in first-mortgage debt on a variety of Washington, D.C., area commercial real estate assets.