Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report
Meridian Group has agreed to pay $136.5 million, or $432.82/sf, for the office building at 1333 New Hampshire Ave. NW in Washington, D.C.
The Bethesda, Md., investment manager is buying the 315,371-square-foot building from Boston Properties, which is being represented by Eastdil Secured in the transaction. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Boston Properties had acquired the building in 2003 for $111.6 million from SEB ImmoInvest, a German fund.
The building, which was constructed in 1996, is 84 percent leased, but its only tenant, law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, is moving out next year. The property is commonly referred to as the Robert S. Strauss Tower, after the founder of Akin Gump.
Boston Properties is also marketing for sale the 179,421-sf office property at 2600 Tower Oaks Blvd. in Rockville, Md., a Washington suburb. The company developed the building in 2001. It expects to sell it by early next year.
So far this year, Boston Properties has sold three non-core office properties with 649,000 sf for $176.1 million. It sold the 262,000-sf building at 500 E St. SW in Washington for $118.6 million to an affiliate of Boyd Watterson Asset Management; the 119,000-sf building...

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