AllianceBernstein Takes Over D.C. Office-to-Resi Site at Second Foreclosure Auction
Post Brothers had cast the winning bid in April, but was unable to procure the funds to close the deal
By Nick Trombola August 7, 2025 5:15 pm
reprints
Post Brothers has finally lost its grip on a troubled office-to-residential conversion project in Washington, D.C., despite the Philadelphia firm’s best efforts.
AllianceBernstein, the property’s former lender, took control of 2100 M Street NW at a foreclosure auction Thursday, casting the sole $20.1 million bid. Bisnow first reported the news. Representatives for Post Brothers and for AllianceBernstein did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thursday’s auction turns the page on a winding saga for 2100 M. Post Brothers had purchased the 301,000-square-foot property in 2023 for $66.8 million, funding the acquisition with a loan from AllianceBernstein at the time. The developer, which specializes in office-to-resi transformations, had plans to convert the office into 400 units and 20,000 square feet of retail space, while adding five stories and a penthouse.
Post Brothers had secured project approval from the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment last October. Yet, less than six months later the property was slapped with a foreclosure notice due to mounting unpaid debt. Nearly $78 million in outstanding debt was tied to the property by the time of the initial foreclosure notice in March.
Philadelphians as they are, Post Brothers wasn’t ready to give the project up without a scrap. At the property’s April auction, the firm cast the winning $60 million bid, narrowly beating AllianceBernstein’s $59.5 million offer. Yet that victory was brief — the firm was unable to secure a loan extension from AllianceBernstein within the 30-day grace period, or any other refinancing deal, and the property was rescheduled for a second auction in August.
The firm apparently decided to cut its losses this time, as it did not put up an offer on Thursday.
Post Brothers has meanwhile struggled to find a financier for another major conversion project in D.C., a 700,000-square-foot complex dubbed Universal North and Universal South. The firm requested a two-year extension on the project’s entitlements in January as it searched for funding, though the current status of that extension and financing effort was not immediately clear.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
