first project

The intention was to lease the remaining space until the building stabilized and then possibly find a buyer for the top floors, he says. Then, a new buyer--Mass Mutual--stepped up recently to acquire the upper five floors. Each firm paid approximately $50 million for their halves, an industry source tells GlobeSt.com.

Mass Mutual plans to lease out its space, while ASCO will occupy its five stories, Wade says. MRP's original intention had been to lease the entire building; however the tax benefits available to non-profit associations required that the ASCO purchase its space. "Their cost of capital is 300 to 400 basis points lower than that for conventional financing." Cassidy Pinkard & Colliers is leasing the space to Mass Mutual, Wade adds.

While Carlyle Overlook is the first project MRP launched after it opened its doors in summer 2005, it is hardly the only project it has underway in the DC area. Since the former TC executives--besides Wade, the company is also headed by Bob Murphy and Fred Rothmeijer--began operating under the MRP flag, they have broken ground on a 600,000-sf office park at the intersection of Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway in the Ashburn area of Loudoun County and the $350 million development Washington Gateway, a one-million-sf, mixed-use project bordering north of the New York Avenue Metro station and Florida Avenue, among others.