Republic Properties Secures $97M Refi Toward DC Office
By Nick Trombola June 12, 2024 3:17 pm
reprints
The Washington, D.C., office market is dead, long live the Washington, D.C., office market.
National real estate development and investment firm Republic Properties has clinched a $96.5 million refinancing loan for a more than 600,000-square-foot office building south of the National Mall in D.C., dubbed Portals II.
The loan was arranged by JLL Securities and provided by an unnamed pension fund, according to Bisnow, citing Republic CEO Steve Grigg. The loan, which matures in 2037, refinances a $130 million loan provided by U.S. Bank in mid-2020, per property records.
Representatives for Republic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation takes up a majority of the space at the building at 445 12th Street SW — over 430,000 square feet to be exact, which it signed on for in 2017. Health care company AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia also recently took 20,000 square feet at the building, per Bisnow.
The office building’s sister properties have very different trajectories. Portals I, at 1250 Maryland Avenue SW, is in the midst of planning for an office-to-residential conversion. Construction on the conversion project is expected to commence next year.
A joint venture between developer Lowe and London-based private equity firm Henderson Park acquired the nearly 540,000-square-foot building late last year at a steep discount — about $26 million against its assessed 2024 value of $154.9 million, according to Biz Journals.
Meanwhile, a group of lenders for Portals III, located at 1201 Maryland Avenue SW, filed to foreclose on that property earlier this year. A foreclosure auction for the building, owned by Republic and South Korea-based real estate fund manager Samsung SRA, is set for July 2.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
