Blue Capital Fund Sells Trophy Asset for $128M

WASHINGTON, DC-A German-based fund, Blue Capital Investments, has sold one of its DC holdings for $127.5 million, or $634 per sf, to a client of AEW. Located at 799 Ninth St., NW, the building is part of a five-asset portfolio for sale that includes office buildings in Orlando, Phoenix and two in Dallas.According to Cushman & Wakefield’s James Luck, who executed the sale with his partners Warren Dahlstrom and Martin Ryan, the DC property, a trophy building in the East End part of town, has been the first to close among these assets, although there are contracts pending to separate buyers on the Phoenix property and one of the Dallas properties. Also, the Bank of America Tower in Orlando has just closed.

The DC property sale delivered significant gross profits to the fund, which has a US office in Atlanta. “It bought the building three-and-half years ago for $80 million,” Luck says.

The 10-story, 201,464-sf building is fully leased to five tenants, the largest of which is the US Mint occupying seven floors. Other government agencies also are counted among the occupants as well as three retail tenants. The building’s location is favorable for leasing activities in the long term as well, Luck says, pointing to its position at Ninth and H streets and its proximity to the soon-to-be developed mixed use site of the former Convention Center.