CIM Group Snaps Up D.C.'s Union Square for $262M

Decenber 12, 2007
By AMANDA MARSH, Associate Editor
Commercial Property News

In what is being touted as a bellwether transaction indicating investment temperature, CIM Group has snapped up the 609,540-square-foot Union Square office complex and an adjacent, entitled land parcel in Washington, D.C., for $262 million. JP Morgan Investment Management was the seller.

The transaction was brought to market during the credit crunch, but closed on schedule and at the original price targets. "Even in the turbulent market, it shows that well-located, quality assets in D.C. and other (key markets) are going to do well," John Kevill, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.'s Washington, D.C. office, told CPN. "They are still strong investments."

Kevill and fellow managing director Collins Ege represented JP Morgan in the transaction, while the buyer was represented in-house. The assets are located 1,000 feet away from Union Station and only two blocks away from Capitol Hill.

This was not the only telling investment in D.C. as of late; last month, a group of investors, including DCD America, The Carlyle Group and Shorenstein Properties, purchased the 274,000-square-foot 1200 New Hampshire Ave. NW and the 119,000-square-foot 2300 M St. NW from Prudential Real Estate Investors for $231M, according to market sources. Kevill noted that these were also prime D.C. locations.

Kevill acknowledged that D.C.'s transaction volume has been "dramatically lower" because of lack of liquidity in the debt market, and new offers have been slow. "However, over the next few months, we will return to a level of normalcy," he said.

Los Angeles-based CIM Group's D.C. portfolio includes City Visa, L'Enfant Plaza, 800 N. Capital, Wardman Park and 370 L’Enfant Promenade.