WASHINGTON, DC—Boston-based John Hancock Real Estate announced today that it had acquired 1750 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, effectively confirming rumors that it was the mystery buyer of the 278,916-square foot office that Vornado Realty Trust announced it was selling last month. The building traded for $182 million, John Hancock said, confirming Vornado's earlier statement.
True to form Vornado did not provide information about the buyer in its announcement.
John Hancock is the US division of Manulife Financial Corp., a Toronto, Canada-based life insurance company. A call to John Hancock was not immediately returned.
The acquisition expands John Hancock's footprint in the DC market to more than 1.3 million square feet of office assets that the company manages for itself and external investors, according to Kevin Adolphe, CEO of Manulife Real Estate and Manulife Asset Management Private Markets.
"In line with our growth strategy, in the past five years, we've further diversified our real estate portfolio acquiring over $4.1 billion of complementary assets across key US markets," he says in a prepared statement.
The property is 97% leased and underwent renovations in 2001 and 2014. Vornado said it would net proceeds of $102 million and it will defer the tax gain under a like-kind exchange.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
