One of the Skyline office properties.

WASHINGTON, DC–You can't say you didn't see this coming. After failing to acquire New York REIT's assets earlier this year, JBG Cos. has reportedly talked with Vornado Realty Trust about buying its local assets, according to a report in Bloomberg which cited unnamed sources.

Bloomberg wrote:

Under a plan that has been discussed, the Washington portfolio, which includes more than 16 million square feet (1.5 million square meters) of office space, would be spun off into a new company, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren't public. JBG would then acquire the new entity, gaining a public market listing, they said.

The business could be valued at about $4 billion to $6 billion depending on exactly which assets are included, one of the people said. No final decision has been made and there's no guarantee a deal will be reached, they said.

Vornado CEO Steve Roth first introduced the idea of a Washington spin off — along with the notion that Vornado might spin off its street retail too — in April of 2015 in his annual letter to shareholders. He, usually in response to analysts' questions, has since discussed it intermittently ever since.

His reasons have ranged from the strategic, such as a mismatch between Washington DC's fundamentals and New York's to the specific, such as the drag the half-vacant Skyline portfolio has on its operations. The various loans backing the 100-acre, mixed-use corporate park in Northern Virginia have become delinquent this year.