Washington, DC — West, Lane & Schlager Realty Advisors, LLC, a Washington, DC-based commercial real estate brokerage firm that represents tenants, announced the sale of 1412 Eye St., NW, a 14,724 s/f, loft-style office building in downtown Washington, DC. The deal closed August 13, 2015, with a sales price of $10 million, or $679 psf.
Gary Schlager, SIOR, principal, and Clark Turner, assistant vice president, both of West, Lane & Schlager, represented the seller, an affiliate of OTJ Architects and Martinez + Johnson Architecture. Peter Calafiura of Locus Corp. represented the purchaser, an affiliate of Dexis Consulting Group.
The story started in 2008, when West, Lane & Schlager sourced the 1412 Eye St., NW acquisition in an “off-market” transaction. The building was boarded up and had been vacant for a number of years, after various failed uses, including a nightclub. Fast forward to 2014 with 100-plus employees occupying the building, and the sellers had outgrown the asset.
“The credit goes to OTJ Architects and Martinez + Johnson,” Schlager said. “They had the vision, creativity and guts to take on a project that others wouldn’t have touched. They understood the asset, how to put it back together, and what the end result could be – and had all the necessary skills and tools to pull this off. Their combined interior and base building experience was a perfect fit.”
After acquiring the property, the building went through a multimillion dollar gut renovation, and became the jewel that it is today. Turner notes that “the property is unlike any other in the city given its size, quality and location, which is reflected by the sales price. OTJ Architects and Martinez + Johnson did a remarkable job of creating a hip, loft-style office building unique to the downtown corridor.”
The building wasn’t without its challenges, foremost being in an alley between 14th and 15th Sts., NW. There were enough offsetting attributes, however, including a location 20 yards to Metro, a central downtown position, a loft-style design, a roof deck and great efficiency, which resulted in a sale of the building less than one year after marketing began.
In addition to the sale, West, Lane & Schlager and Locus Corporation collaborated to structure a lease-back agreement through the spring of 2016, which gives Dexis time for its lease to expire and perform minor work to the property.