Shuttering Lionstone Investments Sells D.C. Office for Bargain Price
The Houston-based firm traded the building for nearly $26 million less than it paid for it in 2014
By Nick Trombola March 6, 2025 6:30 pm
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A Houston-based investment firm is liquidating its $5.5 billion portfolio, and has traded an office building in Southeast Washington, D.C., at a notable discount amid the fire sale.
Lionstone Investments sold the 12-story, 225,000-square-foot property at 100 M Street SE to Onward Investors for $54 million, according to Bisnow, citing property records. Lionstone, alongside partner Hermes Real Estate, paid $79.8 million for the building back in 2014, per reports at the time.
A representative for Lionstone’s parent company, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, declined to comment. Representatives for Onward did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Current tenants at the property include 5D Vision, marketing agency Elevation, property management company Serenity Management, and Truist Bank. Popular Mexican restaurant Pink Taco also called the building home since 2022, though it permanently closed its doors earlier this year.
Ameriprise Financial, which controls both Lionstone and Columbia Threadneedle, announced in November that it would shutter Lionstone and sell its substantial portfolio. The breakup came in the wake of tensions between Lionstone’s leadership and those of Columbia Threadneedle, an affiliate of Ameriprise that acquired Lionstone in 2017, the Business Journal wrote at the time, citing unnamed sources.
Onward is far from the only firm to scoop up a property in the DMV recently amid poor market conditions. Columbia Sussex in February paid $92 million for The Westin Washington D.C. City Center hotel from DiamondRock Hospitality, 40 percent less than the $153 million DiamondRock paid for it in 2012. Or there’s the medical office near George Washington University’s campus that Bain Capital Real Estate and Evergreen Medical Properties acquired in January for $45.5 million. Seller Harrison Street paid $61 million for the office in 2013.
Finmarc’s $51 million purchase of a 620,000-square-foot office portfolio in Northern Virginia takes the cake so far this year, however, as that price is barely over one-third of the $141 million that private equity firm Rockpoint paid for the portfolio in 2018.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
