WealthCap and JBG Secure $108M Chase Tower Loan

Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW), the Stuttgart-based parent company of three commercial banks, has provided a $107.6 million loan against the Chase Tower in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The financing was arranged by Cushman & Wakefield to replace a $82.2 million loan provided by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in 2005. The collateral property consists of a 12-story office building with 230,000 sf at 4445 Willard Ave. and a two-story retail building with 15,835 sf at 4459 Willard Avenue, according to a Commercial RealEstate Direct article. It is owned by a venture of JBG Cos. and WealthCap Management Inc., a subsidiary of UniCredit Bank of Munich, Germany.

"We continue to see strong Lender demand for quality buildings with strong sponsorship," said John Campanella of Cushman & Wakefield. Chase Tower is a 245,835 square foot mixed-use project comprised of a Class A, 12-story office building, a two-story retail building and a community park located in Chevy Chase, MD. It is one block from the Friendship Heights Metro Station (Red Line), which provides direct access to downtown Washington, DC and other areas including Bethesda, Rockville and Gaithersburg. The property was originally developed by JBG and JPMorgan Asset Management, but JPMorgan sold its 90% stake in 2005 to WealthCap.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

DC's West End Redevelopment Breaks Ground

Ground broke this week on the West End redevelopment in Washington, DC, a project that will bring a 21,000-square-foot library and 7,300 square feet of retail topped by 164 market-rate units and a new fire station. EastBanc Inc., a real estate redevelopment company headquartered in the historic Georgetown Post Office it purchased this fall, was selected to develop the space in March 2010. West End Residential LLC, a JV led by EastBanc, is developing the project with the District in a a public-private partnership.

"This really has been a long time coming," said Mayor Vincent Gray, during what will likely be the last major groundbreaking of his only term. "It shows that perseverance does indeed pay off."

"The West End, when we started, was a bunch of parking lots that Oliver Carr didn't get to," said EastBanc President Anthony Lanier. "We wrapped it up." This latest project "finishes off" the neighborhood between Georgetown and Dupont Circle, he added.

The $150 million West End project, encompassing a square West End block for Squares 37 and 50, 2301 L Street NW, anticipates a ribbon-cutting in 2017. The West End team, EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC, includes EastBanc, The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, L. S. Caldwell & Associates and The JBG Companies (as an equity partner). The two buildings were designed by TEN Arquitectos.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Construction Dipped in Arlington Q2

A new article from the Washington Business Journal examines the slowdown in construction activity in Arlington, VA during the second quarter of 2012. Even though there is over 4 million square feet of office space planned and approved by the county, none of the projects are yet under construction, making the second quarter the first quarter in the past decade without any new commercial construction started. An excerpt from the article:

But Arlington doesn't consider a project as "started" until it's above ground, so work at The Penzance Cos.' office building in Clarendon or Virginia Square Towers, both of which were in the dig or demolition phase during the second quarter, wasn't counted.

Robert Ruiz, who leads Arlington's urban planning research team, said the slow quarter was "definitely an anomaly," though it may be the result of several factors: the recession, the lag between county approval and construction, or a delay-spurred rethinking of projects.

Projects under construction during the second quarter will eventually total 962,282 square feet of office space, 147,660 square feet of retail, 1,404 residential units, 183 hotel rooms and 929,828 square feet of "other" space (public facilities, school, health care, etc). Much of the work now underway is found in Rosslyn, at Monday Properties' 1812 N. Moore St., The JBG Cos.' Sedona and Slate residential project and Abdo Development LLC's Gaslight Square.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.