USAA Real Estate Buys FCC Headquarters in DC, Lands $188M Mortgage
By Chava Gourarie December 9, 2021 3:48 pm
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An affiliate of USAA Real Estate has purchased Sentinel Square III, a two-year-old office property anchored by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C.
New York Life Real Estate Investors provided a $188.4 million acquisition loan for the 545,000-square-foot building, located at 45 L Street NE, the company announced. The fixed-rate loan has a nine-year term.
Sentinel Square III is part of the 1.3 million-square-foot Sentinel Square office campus in NoMa developed by Trammell Crow. It includes three buildings.
The FCC pre-leased nearly 473,000 square feet at the third in 2015, and moved to its new headquarters in October 2020, occupying portions of the first and second floors, and the entirety of the third through 11th floors.
“We are pleased to continue our relationship with USAA Real Estate and provide acquisition financing for this premier asset located in the dynamic NoMa neighborhood with a long-term lease to the U.S. government,” Scott Ingham, a senior director at New York Life, said in a prepared statement.
Trammell Crow sold the site to MetLife Insurance for $58 million in 2017, but remained as a development partner, completing the building in 2019.
NoMa has attracted a number of federal agencies in recent years. Sentinel Square II, at 1050 1st Street NE is occupied by a number of federal agencies, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced earlier this year it would move its headquarters to the neighborhood, taking 1.2 million square feet at 60 New York Avenue NE, which is currently under development.
Cushman & Wakefield arranged the sale and financing on behalf of the buyer. The building sold for $305 million, according to property records, the Washington Business Journal first reported.
New York Life and Cushman & Wakefield did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.
