Liberty Property Sells CBD Office for $62M
The 146,979-square-foot property was 65.7% leased at closing.
WASHINGTON, DC—Liberty Property Trust has sold 1100 17th Street NW, a 12-story office building for $61.75 million. The 146,979-square-foot property was 65.7% leased at closing. Cushman & Wakefield’s Bill Collins and Shaun Weinberg represented Liberty in the transaction.
The REIT acquired the building in December 2011 for $50 million. At the time of the purchase the building had an 82% occupancy rate. The property was developed in 1963 and was renovated in 1998.
A value-add play for the REIT, Liberty Property intended on a long-term redevelopment at some future date to create a class A property more commensurate with its class A location, according to a statement by the company at the time of the purchase.
Since then the company has made a pivot with its business strategy. Now Liberty Property is divesting its office assets and reinvesting the proceeds into its industrial business. In 2018 it sold $795 million of office product and acquired or delivered over $1 billion of industrial assets. For 2019, it anticipates that sales will be $600 million to $650 million, leaving it with $100 million to $150 million of office assets to sell in 2020, if not sooner.
With the sale of 1100 17th St., NW, Liberty Property owns three other assets: 1129 20th St., NW, 2100 M St., NW and 1425 New York Ave., NW, according to its website. According to its fourth quarter earnings call, it is marketing another asset in DC.