JBG Smith Trades Another Multifamily Building to Peterson Cos. for $155M

Two of the DMV’s biggest property owners traded another multifamily building for a discount this week, this time in Washington, D.C., proper. 

Nearly six months after swapping a multifamily building in Bethesda, Md., JBG Smith has sold the 11-story Batley, a 432-unit property in northeast D.C., to affiliates of Peterson Companies for $155 million, according to the Business Journals. The price is about 25 percent less than the $205 million that JBG paid for it in 2021 as part of a 1031 exchange. The 300,000-square-foot property, at 1270 Fourth Street NE, is Peterson’s first multifamily asset in D.C., according to the company. The property also includes 29,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, with tenants such as La Cosecha food hall and eyeglasses purveyor Warby Parker.

Peterson landed an $84.2 million acquisition loan for the deal, though the lender was a separate Peterson affiliate, per the Business Journals, citing property records. 

“The Batley is a high-quality asset in one of D.C.’s most dynamic neighborhoods, and we’re excited to add it to our growing residential portfolio,” Stuart Prince, Peterson’s senior managing director of residential, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for JBG declined to comment.

JBG and Peterson have made aggressive deal moves across the DMV in recent months, the former as a seller and the latter as both a buyer and seller. 

JBG is in the midst of a years-long effort to reduce its portfolio, as multifamily and office performance declined outside of its massive National Landing district in Northern Virginia. That includes WestEnd25, a 283-unit high-rise in D.C.’s west end that JBG sold to JRK Property Holdings last month for $186 million. It also includes 8001 Woodmont, a 322-unit property in Bethesda that JBG sold to Peterson in February. The $194 million deal is among the priciest seen in Bethesda in recent memory.

Peterson meanwhile is rolling in dough in the wake of several huge sales. The Fairfax, Va.-based firm in June sold off a 434,000-square-foot office in Peterson’s Dulles Discovery campus in Chantilly to the CIA for nearly $250 million. In January, it sold a 504-acre plot in Stafford County, Va., which is fully entitled for data center development, to Stack Infrastructure for $302.3 million. And in 2023, it traded its 39-acre Liberty Crossing campus in McClean to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for $531 million. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.