WC Smith Sells D.C. HQ for One-Third of Latest Assessed Value
Onward Investors bought the 300,000-square-foot property for just $43 million
By Nick Trombola January 5, 2026 1:45 pm
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A Washington, D.C.-based developer has sold its headquarters for less than a third of its latest appraised value.
WC Smith sold the roughly 300,000-square-foot property, at 1100 New Jersey Avenue SE, to an affiliate of Onward Investors for $43 million, according to D.C. property records. The 10-story building’s 2025 assessed value was just over $132 million, per PropertyShark. It was not immediately clear why WC Smith offloaded the property at such a discount.
WC Smith, known for developing swaths of Southeast D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood, constructed the building in 2004. A subsidiary of Truist Financial provided $117.5 million in debt for the property in 2019, though the debt’s maturity date and current repayment status were not immediately clear. Late last year, a spokesperson for WC Smith told the Business Journals, which first reported news of the sale, that the developer planned to keep its headquarters at the property long term.
Representatives for WC Smith and for Onward did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal is Onward’s latest acquisition in the neighborhood. The firm in March paid about $54 million for 100 M Street SE, a 12-story office property one block west of the Federal Gateway building. Onward likewise purchased that property at a big discount relative to its latest appraised value of $103.4 million, per PropertyShark.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
