Md.-Based Duball Buys D.C. Office for Resi Conversion
The developer acquired the building at a major discount from its assessed value.
By Nick Trombola August 5, 2024 2:23 pm
reprints
With Washington, D.C.’s office market in a tailspin amid record high vacancy rates, developers like Duball are attempting office-to-residential conversions to help alleviate the crisis.
To that end, the Rockville, Md.-based firm has purchased 1201 Connecticut Avenue NW, a 190,385-square-foot Class B office known as the Longfellow Building, from BrightSpire Capital for $21.5 million. Duball in June filed plans with D.C.’s Historic Preservation Office to convert the property into a 161-unit multifamily building with a ground-floor retail component, though it was still owned by BrightSpire at the time. It’s unclear if Duball was under contract to buy the building when it submitted the plans.
Duball’s purchase represents a hefty discount from the building’s 2024 assessed value of roughly $70.5 million, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue.
Many of D.C.’s more modern, open-floor office buildings present a challenge for office-to-resi projects. But the Longfellow Building, which was built in the 1940s, is well suited for conversion due to its 15,500-square-foot rectangular floor plates with uniform column grids, according to JLL, which brokered the sale.
Maurice Walters Architect is designing the conversion project, while JLL Capital Markets’ Tom Hall, Matt Nicholson, Kevin Byrd, Jim Meisel, Andrew Weir and Dave Baker represented BrightSpire in the deal.
“The [William] Lescaze-designed original building has a tremendous amount of character and is meaningful to Dupont Circle and the surrounding communities,” Marc Dubick, Duball’s president, said in a statement. “We support the District’s goal of increasing housing opportunities in the downtown area and believe this will be a terrific office to residential conversion.”
BrightSpire was the lender on financing tied to the property from former owner Expansive, a Chicago-based coworking company. Expansive defaulted on its roughly $65 million loan tied to the building last year, paving the way for BrightSpire to scoop it up at foreclosure auction for the bargain price of $21.1 million.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
