Rreef Affiliate Nabs 1800 K St. for $98M

WASHINGTON, DC-An affiliate of Rreef America has acquired a 275,000-sf office building for $98 million from Manhattan-based Paramount Group Inc.

Paramount bought the building in March 2004 for $69 million for the Paramount Group Real Estate Fund I, which focuses on class A investments in CBDs. As part of the plan, Paramount upgraded the 1800 K. St. asset’s appearance after its acquisition. “We repositioned the property per the fund’s objective by doing a complete facade and lobby renovation along with the lease-up,” Paramount Group president and CEO Albert Behler says in a statement. “We will continue to expand our portfolio by investing in additional class A, CBD-located office properties throughout the United States.”

The property’s lead tenant is the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which occupies about half of the building, John Norjen, a broker in CB Richard Ellis’ Washington, DC office, tells GlobeSt.com. CBRE represented Paramount while the Rreef affiliate used in-house brokers to work out the deal.

Norjen says the building, which was 97% leased when it went on the market, attracted a great deal of attention from a wide variety of institutional buyers. It was on the market about two months. Much of the building’s appeal is its “K” Street address, he says. “It is a fantastic location in the middle of the central business district,” he points out.

Rreef, and the institutional clients that it represents, has maintained a steady interest in the Washington, DC market. This summer, on behalf of a client, it acquired nearby 1250 Eye St., a 172,213-sf office building that was 98% leased, from TA Realty Associates, a Boston-based adviser for pension fund investors.