Small Site Brings in $480 Per-SF

WASHINGTON, DC-While Washington, DC remains at the top of the office market in terms of occupancy levels and sales, still, it’s not every day that a building commands $480 per sf. However, such is the case with the office structure at 1215 19th St. NW. With the assistance of real estate services company Transwestern Commercial Services’ Investment Sales Group, a private firm of attorneys and lobbyists operating under the ownership name of Roosevelt Land has acquired the 10,000-sf property from Tag Corp. for a very respectable $4.8 million.

The per-sf figure rises head and shoulders above the average sale price for class A office buildings in the District, which was $382.26 in 2003, and $410.40 in the first quarter of this year, according to Advantis Real Estate Services Co.’s First Quarter 2004 Office Market Report. CB Richard Ellis had originally marketed the property on behalf of the seller for $5.2 million.

A onetime residence of Theodore Roosevelt, 1215 19th St. sits at the corner of Jefferson Place and 19th St., just south of the trendy business and residential neighborhood of Dupont Circle. The historic four-story rowhouse was originally developed in 1885, but has since undergone a series of alterations, the most significant of which occurred in 1957 when the building was converted from a residence to an office property. The last major renovation took place in 1984 when the owners facilitated a makeover and an expansion that resulted in a new conference facility and multimedia room. According to District records, the property’s current assessed value is approximately $3 million.