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Commercial Real Estate News in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia

Washington, DC

Washington, DC

By Erika Morphy
WASHINGTON, DC—If there is any office property in DC ready to be sold it would 2001 L St., NW, the 167,000 square foot building owned by Minshall Stewart Properties and Heitman. The owners have secured some rather nice-sized tenants recently. And of course, the building, located in the heart of Golden Triangle, has undergone a significant renovation.
A source has told GlobeSt.com that the owners have found a buyer of the property and that the sale is pending. GlobeSt.com was unable to confirm the details independently of the source. A request for comment to Minshall Stewart Properties placed after hours was not returned in time for publication.2001 L St.
The two companies purchased the building in 2012, paying about $62 million. The following year the owners embarked on a renovation of the 10-story property, relocating its lobby, creating new office and retail space on the first three floors and installing a three story glass storefront and curtain wall.
This April the Urban Land Institute signed a 15-year lease to occupy 33,481 square feet that includes the entire 2nd and 3rd floor of the 10-story building.
The purchase price of the property is unclear as is the buyer. The JV put the building on the market earlier this year. One estimate tossed about was that the office would fetch about $105 million or $629 per square foot. The building is now 85% leased, according to CBRE’s Kevin Howard, who represented the owner in the lease. During the past six months, the CBRE team has executed 89,000 square feet of leases on behalf of the building owner, the broker said.
“Minshall Stewart executed a dramatic transformation of the asset which has fueled market interest from tenants at a very fast pace,” Howard said in a prepared statement.

By Erika Morphy
WASHINGTON, DC—Don’t look now, but Federal Capital Partners is making inroads in another market that is not the Washington DC area. This week the Chevy Chase, MD-based company announced it has recapitalized two multifamily communities in Charleston, SC and Charlotte, NC.
The two properties are Plantation Oaks, a 264 unit apartment community in Charleston. The property in Charlotte is the 240-unit York Ridge.
The owner, High Real Estate Group LLC, will retain an ownership interest in the portfolio and continue to provide property management services.
FCP is also building in this part of the Eastern Seaboard. Shortly before these transactions were announced, FCP unveiled the details behind an apartment community it is developing with Terwilliger Pappas Multifamily Partners. Called the Solis Ballantyne, it will be a 194-unit apartment in South Charlotte’s Ballantyne submarket. In April of this year, Terwilliger Pappas and FCP started construction on Solis Waverly, a 375-home community next to a new Whole Foods Market in the Waverly planned development. Solis Ballantyne and Solis Waverly were the first equity investments in Charlotte for FCP.
FCP’s reason for growing its footprint in this market — the recapitalization represents its third and fourth investments here –- is straightforward. As FCP Vice President Bryan Kane put it when the deal was announced, Charleston and Charlotte both show strong positive job and population growth patterns.Solis Ballantyne is a 194-unit apartment in South Charlotte’s Ballantyne community currently under construction.
All true, but it doesn’t entirely answer the question of why the Carolinas and more importantly, how the company made the transition from a local buyer of value add properties to this new version of FCP that swoops — or so it seems — into new markets and is able to identify similar diamonds in the rough.
Managing Partners With National Experience
It is here that we should reflect on FCP’s beginnings – as well as the pedigree of its founders. Both explain how FCP has expanded from its DC area focus to such states as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and now the Carolinas.
FCP was founded by Lacy Rice and Esko Korhonen, who first worked together as principals at The Carlyle Group. Alex Marshall, previously a member of the Real Estate Group at JP Morgan Partners, joined the firm in 2002. In 2007, Thomas Carr, former chairman and CEO of CarrAmerica Realty joined the company as the fourth managing partner.In 2013 FCP acquired Tree Top Apartments in Raleigh, NC.
If you think about it, their respective and collective backgrounds all but scream national experience.
Indeed, Carr tells GlobeSt.com, the idea of going national was tossed about early on even as the company prepped to invest the proceeds of its first fund. That original fund, vintage 2008, was mostly invested in the DC area, with perhaps 20% invested in nearby markets. The second fund, which launched three years later, was about 50% invested in DC, with the remaining half invested elsewhere.
Today, Carr said, “we continue to invest up and down the East Coast.”
Carr declined to discuss any current fundraising activities FCP might be doing.
The reasons for FCP’s geographic diversification are what one might expect: diversification, in general, is a good thing, especially when one’s core investment portfolio is in Washington DC. “We have found DC is a diversifier of its own,” he said. “When it is quiet other parts of the nation are booming and vice versa.”
The more interesting question is how FCP expanded its scope. To hear Carr tell it, the company’s formula for success is, like its decision to move into the Carolinas, straightforward.
1. Humility and a lot of it when FCP first enters a market. “Any one who isn’t humble about his lack of local market expertise or knowledge is liable to make mistakes.”FCP also invests in offices. Pictured here is Erwin Square Plaza in downtown Durham.
2. Develop that aforementioned local market knowledge through a lot of visits and, in the case of Raleigh, eventually establishing a local office.
3. Take all the time needed. Two years is about what it takes to understand an entirely new market, Carr said.
4. A group approach to the investment decision-making process. Every investment the company makes is vetted by the entire firm. If an analyst doesn’t agree or sees a problem, the investment is halted or at least paused until there is consensus – or until the investment is scrapped. And that has happened, Carr said.
This painstaking approach is worth the effort, he said. It is how the company zeroed in on Raleigh as an opportunity a few years ago. “Today Raleigh has had more office absorption than DC.” What is particularly noteworthy is the size of the Triangle office market is 50 million square feet, while DC’s is 300 million.
Carr may not be willing to discuss the company’s fundraising but he does tip his hand as to what new market the company is currently scooping: South Florida.
“We have had our people going down there for visits for a while now,” he said.

By Erika Morphy
ARLINGTON, VA—The JBG Cos. secured a $145 million refi package for its 300-room Renaissance Arlington Capital View and 325-suite extended-stay Residence Inn Arlington Capital View.
This transaction follows at least two other hotel refis the company has done this year, all of which have been provided, at least in part, by the Los Angeles-based Mesa West Capital.Renaissance Arlington Capital View
In this latest deal Mesa West partnered with AEW Capital Management to provide the full $145 million, with Mesa West’s New York City office providing the senior loan and Boston-based AEW providing the mezzanine debt.
The senior debt portion is a non-recourse, floating-rate interest only loan. It has an initial term of three years with extension options.
JBG developed the properties in 2011, not exactly a fortuitous time for hotels in the DC market. Nevertheless, they performed well despite being delivered into a trying environment, according to Mesa West Capital Assistant Vice President Daniel Tanner who originated the financing.
Earlier this year, JBG Cos., refinanced its Hilton Crystal City with a $55 million mortgage loan originated out of Mesa West’s New York office. JBG acquired this property, which is next to the Ronald Reagan National Airport, in 2012. A renovation followed, which improved the hotel’s occupancy and average daily rate.
This financing as well was a non-recourse, floating-rate interest only loan with an initial term of three years with extension options.
Mesa West also provided JBG with $27 million in first mortgage debt to refinance the 191-room Westin Reston Heights in Reston, VA.
Mesa West has lent some $300 million in first mortgage debt in the Washington DC area this year, it says.
Mesa West did not return a request for comment by GlobeSt.com.

By Erika Morphy
FREDERICK, MD—CNL Healthcare Properties, an Orlando, Fla.-based REIT, has carved out a nice presence for itself in this part of suburban Maryland, although you would not know it from its recent spate of acquisitions. At the end of July, however, it made another acquisition in the local market, signaling it still has appetite for these assets here.
It acquired two medical office buildings located at 194 and 45 Thomas Johnson Dr. in the so-called Doctor Row’s part of Frederick.A CNL senior housing holding in Frederick.
The buildings, which total 82,348 square feet, are fully occupied are two-thirds leased to affiliates of Frederick Memorial and John Hopkins Hospitals. They traded for $24.25 million.
Local developer Ausherman Development Corp. was the seller. Avison Young’s Jim Kornick and Chip Ryan marketed the property for Ausherman in what the company called “a highly competitive” process.
Kornick said the assets appealed to “all national core medical office investors” and the sale exceeded the Ausherman’s expectations.
CNL owns a number of medical office buildings and senior housing facilities in Frederick, MD, such as Tranquillity at Fredericktowne, the Liberty Professional Center and the Patriot Professional Center.
CNL has made a number of acquisitions around the country this year. Earlier this month it closed on a five-property seniors housing portfolio from AEW Capital Management. The $195-million deal brought CNL Healthcare’s year-to-date investment total to well over $500 million.
Specifically, it has invested $540.7 million in 25 medical office buildings and seniors housing communities during the first seven months of 2015, bringing its total portfolio to 125 assets in 29 states with a value of approximately $2.5 billion. This figure includes the Liberty and Patriot Professional Centers medical office buildings in Frederick.
The purchases span the country, from Novi Orthopaedic Center, a medical office building in Novi, Mich., which traded for $30.5 million to a six-asset portfolio in the Triangle area for $63.1 million.
Approximately 76% of the medical office buildings are located on or adjacent to hospital campuses. The average age of the assets in the portfolio is 9.7 years, with the average age of the company’s seniors housing assets being 7.7 years. The weighted average time remaining on tenant leases is 7.6 years.

By John Jordan
BALTIMORE, MD—ASB Real Estate Investments has sold three of its properties at the Troy Hill Tech Center to two separate buyers for a total of $34.15 million.
The 175,003-square-foot portfolio is located in the 20-building Troy Hill Tech Center, which totals more than 800,000 square feet. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC purchased 7145 and 7175 Troy Hill Dr., which consists of 51,361 square feet and 80,369 square feet, respectively. Merritt Properties acquired the 43,273-square-foot building at 7195 Troy Hill Dr., according to Transwestern, which represented ASB Real Estate Investments in the disposition deals.7195 Troy Hill Drive, Baltimore, MD
The properties are anchored by Comcast in a long-term lease, which was part of their appeal to the buyers, according to Glagola.
Financial details on the trades of the individual buildings were not disclosed. Managing director Mark Glagola and senior vice president Tom Gentner of Transwestern’s Mid-Atlantic Investment Services Group brokered the deals.
 ASB Real Estate reported earlier this year that international law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP signed a 15-year lease for 40,000 square feet at 900 G Street, N.W. in Washington, DC. The property is being developed by ASB Real Estate Investments and MRP Realty.

By Erika Morphy
BETHESDA, MD—Too bad, any buyers out there that might have wanted to scoop up a Bethesda office at a competitive price. You missed your chance now that MRP Realty secured refinancing for Montgomery Tower at Bethesda Crossing. As we reported earlier this week, MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group secured a $103.5 million bank loan at excellent, albeit unnamed, terms. According to DTZ broker John Campanella, the refi priced at terms a CBD office might have gotten.
We caught up with Jackson Prentice, senior vice president and director of Portfolio Management at MRP Realty to find out what the company’s plans are for the property.Montgomery Tower
This building, as a refresher, is the third tower that MRP didn’t sell to JP Morgan Asset Management earlier this year when Bethesda Crossing traded.
Bethesda Crossing consists of three buildings totaling 715,000 square feet. MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group purchased the property in January 2013, paying nearly $205 million, and invested nearly $30 million in renovations.
It was interesting that JP Morgan Asset Management didn’t buy Montgomery Tower, or the north tower as it is sometimes called. One speculated reason is that the core fund through which it purchased the properties could not absorb all three assets.
The renovations MRP had made in the years it has owned the property, though, repositioned the buildings enough to start securing higher rents when the two other towers sold, Prentice said.
“They were renting in the $32 to $35 per square foot range when we acquired them. Now they are renting at north of $40 per square foot in all three towers. Montgomery Tower appraised very well [Prentice declined to say how much] and the leasing velocity has been off the charts.”
Prentice said that after the sale of the two properties MRP had a significant pay down of the loan covering all three buildings, making it possible to refinance. The refinancing took the pressure off the company to sell the building “possibly in haste,” he says.
“Now we have some breathing room to finish the leasing.”
There are some rollovers coming up and some available space right now at the north tower, he says, but the building is about 95% leased.
Prentice says it is not clear when the north tower might go back on the market. “We are still under the original underwriting of the hold period. A lot will depend on the confluence of our short-term leasing success and then keeping a close eye on the capital markets and cap rates.”

By Erika Morphy
 
WASHINGTON, DC-Even the smalles of parcels along the H Street Corridor continue to attract interest from developers. The latest example is a redevelopment site at a corner lot on 777 17th St., NE, totaling more than 15,066 square feet, which JBGR Retail sold to a local developer. The site can support a mixed-use project of approximately 72,300 square feet.
MAC Realty Advisors brokered the transaction representing both the local developer and JBGR Retail.
The H Street Corridor, it hardly needs to be said, is on fire. The neighborhood has been in boom mode for years, a revitalization that went into overdrive with the decision by Whole Foods to open a store there. Since 2007 there have been 1,000 new apartment units developed in the submarket. There is more in the pipeline—specifically, some 144,000 square feet of retail and mixed-use projects.
This latest lot is located within walking distance of these amenities.
Andrew McAllister, executive director at MAC, likens the current level of activity on H Street to the activity on U Street and the 14th Street Corridor last cycle. “Capital sources and developers recognize that H Street is one of the hottest development corridors in Washington, DC,” he said in a prepared statement.
MAC sourced half-dozen senior acquisition and predevelopment loan quotes, for the deal.
McAllister, along with colleagues Bruce Levin, and Ben Lazarus led the marketing effort for MAC.

By Erika Morphy
MCLEAN, VA—Two Freddie Mac programs have separately priced more than $1.2 billion in multifamily loans through its securitization activities. One is the GSE’s tried-and-true K Certificates. The other is a relatively new program that apparently is making traction very quickly—its small balance loan securitization.
In the K-deal, Freddie Mac priced $1.2 billion in securities backed by seasoned loans. The K Certificates are expected to settle on or about August 27, 2015. They are guaranteed by Freddie Mac and are backed by 70 seasoned multifamily mortgages from the company’s retained portfolio. This is the company’s seventeenth K Certificates offering this year.Freddie Mac headquarters
Through its small balance loan securitization program, Freddie Mac guaranteed its second series of SB Certificates, following its first earlier this month. These certificates are backed by multifamily small balance loans underwritten by Freddie Mac and issued by a third-party trust. Freddie Mac expects to guarantee approximately $109 million in SB Certificates. This is slightly more than the $108 million in the first series that settled on Aug. 18, 2015.
Earlier this month, Mitchell Resnick, vice president of Freddie Mac Multifamily Capital Markets told GlobeSt.com that Freddie Mac expects to originate some $100 million to $125 million in SB Certificates every two weeks or so.
The SB Certificates are similar in structure to Freddie Mac’s K Deals except that there is only one originator of the loans. Freddie Mac believes the risk is acceptable as the originator is purchasing the subordinate loans.
The originator can partner with a B piece buyer to purchase the subordinate piece or sell these loans to the company. There is no restriction on how long these loans must remain on the originator’s balance sheet.

By Erika Morphy
WASHINGTON, DC—Everyone knows about the Whole Foods effect. Once the high-end grocery decides to build in a neighborhood, the submarket is set. There is an assumption that Whole Foods is building in an area where consumers can afford its higher prices. This assumption is then taken on by developers who become markedly more enthusiastic about residential projects nearby. The sentiment was best summed up by Mitchell Schear, president of Vornado/Charles E. Smith in an earnings call back in 2013 when the REIT announced it had landed Whole Foods to anchor a mixed-use project in Pentagon City, VA.
He said:
“Signing the lease with Whole Foods is a home run by any measure for the project and the neighborhood. Whole Foods has a history of increasing value to its surrounding neighbors, which we fully expect will happen here where we own two big parcels of adjacent land that will surround Whole Foods.”
No doubt for a submarket like Pentagon City, this is very true. But Whole Foods has been expanding into emerging parts of the city, such as the H Street Corridor and further into the suburbs, such as Prince George’s County. Does this equation Whole Foods=Increased Value in the Neighborhood hold true in these areas?Ravenswood Apartments
Yes, in the abstract. But just try to pin down a broker on tangible numbers.
Ravenswood Apartments
Earlier this summer Ravenswood Apartments, a 23-unit multifamily community located at 4701-4703 Ravenswood Rd in Riverdale, MD, traded, sold by Wright Properties. The buyer was a local LLC, Dumbarton at Riverdale Station LLC.
The Ravenswood is a boutique apartment building and while it is not part of the, say, bustling H Street Corridor scene, it is close enough to some nice amenities including Prince George’s first Whole Foods, less than half a mile away.
GlobeSt.com asked one of the brokers on the deal, Greysteel’s John Mullen, how much did Whole Foods’ proximity play in the deal? The answer: not as much as you’d think for the bottom line but it still had an important influence.
“It made a better story for the future usage of the property,” he said. “But not in the sense that there was anything to quantify.” However, properties in this submarket are your standard-fare suburban multifamily accommodations (“they are what they are” Mullen said) and there is little reason to pay more than exactly where they pencil in in terms of value and cash-flow.
Having a Whole Foods nearby “created more buyer interested because of what it indicates about the income level, but ultimately buyers are going to do their own numbers and due diligence,” Mullen said.
Elysium Logan
One reason Grosvenor Americas was intrigued with Madison Investments’ Elysium Logan, a residential property located at 1427 and 1429 Rhode Island Ave, NW, was its proximity to Whole Foods.
Elysium Logan will be an eight-story building with 32 luxury residences in the Logan Circle/14th Street corridor. The description of the building and units screams luxury, or at least a high-end abode for the discerning renter.Elysium Logan
Grosvenor Americas provided $5.77 million in financing for the project.
“There is absolutely a ‘Whole Foods effect,’ Scott Brody, senior vice president at Grosvenor Americas, tells GlobeSt.com.
“People want to live near coffee house and grocery stores. It adds to the appeal of a neighborhood.”
But Brody didn’t sign on the bottom line simply because he heard a Whole Foods was en route. He participated in past projects in the neighborhood and is very familiar with the market and how it has been on a rocket climb.
“This was a proven area for us when this deal with Madison came up,” he said.
“Whole Foods just solidified the decision for us.” “Having a Whole Foods nearby is a tacit endorsement of the neighborhood,” he said. “The fact that it is building there shows now what the neighborhood is today but it will be in a few years.”

By John Jordan
BETHESDA, MD—Montgomery Tower’s owners have secured $103.5 million in financing for the recently renovated 12-story building located at 4550 Montgomery Ave.
MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group tapped DTZ’s John Campanella to arrange financign for the building, Montgomery Tower at Bethesda Crossing. A global commercial bank provided the loan for the 366,161-square-foot building.Montgomery Tower, Bethesda, MD
Earlier this year, MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group sold two of the three office towers that comprise Wisconsin Towers at Bethesda Crossing to J.P Morgan Asset Management. MRP and Rockpoint retained ownership of the Montgomery Tower and MRP Property Management continues to manage the entire three-building property.
Montgomery Tower attractive aggressive pricing comparable to what a building in the CBD might have gotten, according to DTZ’s Campanella.
Built in 1980, Montgomery Tower has been extensively renovated. It is also LEED Gold certified.
The office building is currently 93% leased with tenants such as Abt Associates and Calvert Shareholders.

By Erika Morphy
WASHINGTON, DC—Refining is plentiful, they said. Capital is eager to invest, they said. The wave of debt maturities won’t have a problem securing money to recapitalize, they said. So why did one local office fail to find refinancing while a portfolio of retail assets will likely come through its current difficulties unscathed?
Following are two separate deals that went sour. One will likely be okay in the end; the other has made a buyer of distressed loans happy at least. One asset is a vacant suburban office, which of course explains volumes. But the retail portfolio is also largely located in suburban locations.Trepp Research Analyst Sean Barrie
It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that the suburban office would have failed to find financing. It is not easy, but suburban offices are still finding tenants and buyers and financing. In the end, the stories are illustrative of the elasticity of the refinance market, still, even at this point of the cycle. It is also illustrative of its limitations.
One loan that backed the Computer Sciences Building in Lanham, MD, was just sold off for a sizable loss, $55.6 million of its $67.7 million balance, Trepp reports. It represents a pretty big loss for the bondholders of this deal, Research Analyst Sean Barrie tells GlobeSt.com.
“This property has been troubled for some time, and transferred to special servicing in January 2014,” Barrie says. The trouble began when the single tenant, Computer Sciences, vacated after its lease ran out. It has been vacated ever since.
The loan has been purchased, but Trepp doesn’t have information about that transaction.
It is highly unlikely this loan was ever going to get refinancing, Barrie said.
The building was in a suburban market and it was vacant. It simply was never able to overcome the loss of the tenant.
By contrast, Trepp also reported separately that Kimco’s Silver portfolio has been sent to special servicing. The $55.4 million portfolio backs 45 retail properties that total 310,610 square feet. All but one of the properties are located in Virginia, with 37 of the 44 located around Fredericksburg. The 45th property is located in Columbia, MD. The properties run the retail gamut, from CVS to Outback Steakhouse, with multiple fast food locations in between, according to Trepp.
According to July watchlist commentary, two properties have an outstanding combined tax delinquency of over $14,000. Additionally, a few properties were reported to have “excessive deterioration” and “cracking” in their parking lots–but not enough to represent a credit risk.
The loan reported 100% occupancy and 1.34x DSCR through the first three months of 2015. With the loan coming due next month, this move might be a precautionary one, Trepp concluded.
In this case it is highly likely the borrower will secure financing, depending on just how bad the deterioration is, Barrie said. “The portfolio has been performing well, otherwise.”

By John Jordan
WASHINGTON, DC—Clarion Partners’ 1111 19th St., NW, is turning into a defacto tech enclave. It has secured education technology services firm Blackboard as a tenant, most recently, following such firms as online college textbook provider Flat World Knowledge and SocialRadar, as the Washington Business Journal recently noted.
Blackboard is taking 70,482-square-feet in a 13-year term at the nearly 270,000-square-foot property. This is the building where it first launched close to 20 years ago.   DTZ represented Clarion Partners in the transaction.  Blackboard will occupy three floors. The office building was recently renovated to sport an expanded lobby and new retail storefronts.1111 19th St., NW
 Phillip S. Thomas, Jr.,  Kerri Mulligan Salih, Matthew Venos and  Callie Clemons of DTZ represented Clarion Partners, which owns the property on behalf of a separately managed account.

By Erika Morphy
WASHINGTON, DC—Madison Investments has secured financing for the development of a vacant lot in Logan Circle into condos. The project follows another rare new building project in this submarket: Resmark and Streetscape JV to build a 71-unit condo project at 1011 M St., which broke ground in December 2014.
MAC Realty Advisors placed a $18.5 million senior construction loan for the development of 1427 Rhode Island Ave., NW, half a block East of 14th street and two blocks West of Logan Circle. The loan closed in early July 2015.Elysium Logan
Separately, Grosvenor Americas provided $5.77 million to the project.
Madison Investments will build an eight-story concrete high-rise building for 32 luxury condo units that will be called Elysium Logan. Construction is expected to begin in fourth quarter of this year, with delivery planned for early 2017.
There were a number of debt sources interested in the financing, according to Ben Lazarus, senior director with MAC, in a prepared statement.
The 14th Street Corridor features extremely desirable neighborhood amenities including a Whole Foods around the Andrew McAllister, Bruce Levin, Ben Lazarus, and Nick Rubenstein led the placement effort for MAC.

By John Jordan
UPPER MARLBORO, MD—Prince George’s County has reached an agreement in principle with the State of Maryland to contribute $20 million in additional funding for the development of the Purple Line.
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III stated on Friday that negotiations with the State of Maryland resulted in the preliminary agreement. The county had previously committed $100 million in funding for the Purple Line project.Map of preferred alternative route of the Purple Line
“Prince George’s County has agreed in concept with the State of Maryland to move the Purple Line forward. We have agreed to increase our contribution by $20 million in exchange for construction of the Purple Line starting in Prince George’s County,” County Executive Baker says. “We also have agreed with the state that the primary command center will be located in the county.”
The Purple Line is a proposed 16-mile light rail line that will extend from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County, MD. The light rail line will provide a direct connection to the Metro Red, Green and Orange lines. The Purple Line when completed, is expected to move more than 60,000 riders each day and will connect to MARC, Amtrak, and local bus services. Transit officials expect the Purple Line will provide commutation connections to the University of Maryland and its research center, New Carrollton, Bethesda and Silver Spring.
On June 25, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that he directed the Maryland Department of Transportation to move forward with a more cost-effective and streamlined version of the Purple Line that will connect Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County. Under this scaled back version of the project, the state share in the Purple Line will be only $168 million—a fraction of the original proposal, which would have cost the state approximately $700 million.
MDOT has not established a new cost for the now streamlined Purple Line. Prior to the state funding cut, previous estimates put the total cost of the project at $2.37 billion, with $900 million in federal funding and between $500 million to $900 million in private sector investment.

By John Jordan
WASHINGTON, DC—The Chapin Row residential condominium project on Chapin Street here has hit the market, according to MC Residential.
Chapin Row, located at 1412 Chapin Street NW, is a newly constructed residential building that features 30 for-sale condo units. Chapin Row was developed by real estate investor Getinet Bantayehu and developer Sevan Topjian.Chapin Row, Washington, DC
Topjian’s company, Brookland Homes, is responsible for the recently released Perry Row townhomes in Brookland. Bantayehu is a partner in restaurant ventures such as H Street’s Granville Moore’s and Palace of Wonders.
“Chapin Row has been a great opportunity for MG Residential to expand our portfolio and offer residents of the District a unique, refined option for living in the heart of the action along the 14th and U Street corridors,” states Kymber Lovett-Menkiti, president, MG Residential, the sales division of the Menkiti Group.
Chapin Row units feature wide-plank hardwood floors, Bosch appliances, marble countertops, recessed lighting, and washer-dryers. The one and two-bedroom units are available in a variety of footprints, measuring between 500 square feet to 800 square feet.
Last month, a joint venture of the Menkiti Group and Dantes Partners broke ground on the Girard Street Senior Apartments at 1545 Girard St. NE in Brookland. Upon completion, the development will include 25 luxury affordable apartments for seniors aged 55 and over.

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