Washington Business Journal

Last month, Equity Residential closed on a high-rise apartment building in this submarket, paying $85 million to acquire the property from Sunburst Hospitality. In October 2009, it acquired Metropolitan at Pentagon Row, a 326-unit luxury apartment high-rise that traded for $100 million. According to the Equity spokesman, the DCarea "is a core market for us. We arealways looking for the opportunity to add high-quality assets."

The property is a "wonderful asset," says Greg Leisch, president andCEO of Delta Associates, which helped underwrite offers for a fewpotential buyers. "I would guess it was chased by about 30 or morepurchasers. It was quite a beauty contest."

The DC apartment market has recovered faster than Delta Associatesanticipated it would last year, Leisch adds. According tosoon-to-be-released statistics for the market, the DC area's vacancyrates have, for the most part, remained unchanged over the past year. "It is the only asset class we could say that about," he continues. It also experienced recordabsorption, with 10,000 units absorbed over a 12-month period. "The Dumont's new owner will be leasing into a rapidly-recoveringapartment market," Leisch concludes.