National briefs: TRD’s monthly roundup of U.S. real estate news

Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.
Liberty Property Trust has paid $133.5 million for an eight-story office building that is halfway between the White House and the exclusive Georgetown neighborhood, Yahoo Finance reported. At the intersection of M Street NW and 21st Street NW, the 290,762-square-foot tower is 77 percent occupied. Tenants include George Washington University, the Urban Institute, Stewart & Stewart and a UPS retail store. Liberty also received the conveyance of 105,000 square feet of transferable development rights, which allows the company to increase the building to 415,000 square feet.

Boston
Boston’s 112-year-old Copley Square Hotel is being offered up for sale just as the Beantown hospitality market surges, the Boston Business Journal reported. The owner, Virginia-based CapStar Copley, could see bids for the 143-room hotel as high as $65 million; in 2007, CapStar Copley and the now-defunct Lehman Brothers Holdings paid $35.5 million for the seven-story building, in the heart of the Bay Back neighborhood. The listing comes as investors are looking for hotels to buy downtown, their interest piqued by the city’s steadily rising room and occupancy rates — $167.55 and 72 percent, respectively, compared with $110.66 and 62 percent nationwide. In May, California-based Sunstone Hotel Investors paid $250 million for the 941-room Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

Dallas
Comerica Bank Tower in downtown Dallas has a new owner, ending its mortgage struggles of the last few years. The 60-story office building is now owned by M-M Properties Inc. and CBRE Global Investors, the Dallas Morning News reported. The partnership did not disclose the sale price; the red granite skyscraper, designed by famed architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, changed hands the last time in 2006, for an estimated $216 million. Bond holders who had a $178.6 million loan on the high-rise have been searching a buyer since lenders foreclosed on part of the debt last year. Comerica Bank has had its headquarters in the landmark building since 2007 but has no financial ties to the property.

Las Vegas
Fourteen apartment communities across Las Vegas are now owned by the Wolff Company of Scottsdale, Ariz., a real estate private equity firm, Business Wire reported. Wolff purchased the 3,098-unit “Oasis Portfolio” for $200 million from Sierra Nevada Multifamily Investments. “This portfolio represents an excellent mix of assets with strong in-place operations and a potential value-add opportunity as the market continues its recovery,” said Wolff’s CEO, Fritz Wolff. “We are continuously seeking similar opportunities nationally.”

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Atlanta
A Los Angeles–based fund backed by CBRE Global Investors is the new owner of a 31-story office tower, Commercial Property Executive reported. CBRE Strategic Partners U.S. Value 6 paid $144.3 million to Colonial Properties, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Three Ravinia building in Altanta’s Central Perimeter submarket, the largest concentration of office space in the Southeast. InterContinental Hotels Group occupies almost half of the 813,750-square-foot skyscraper, which currently has an occupancy rate of 91 percent.

Suburban D.C.
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III paid $2.5 million for a three-acre estate about 30 miles west of the nation’s capital, Curbed reported. The 8,800-square-foot home, in Loudon County’s exclusive Creighton Farms golf course community, has five bedrooms and four baths. Public records show the property is appraised at $1.8 million.

Beverly Hills
“Die Hard” star Bruce Willis wants to sell his walled-and-gated acreage for $22 million, OMG Yahoo reported. The main house has five bedrooms and the guest house has four bedrooms. The combined space is 10,000 square feet. Built in 1923, previous owners include Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and Michael Jackson. Willis purchased the property in 2004 for $6.3 million.

Los Angeles
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks and actress wife Rita Wilson have listed their Pacific Palisades home for $5.2 million. The Spanish-style house, built in 1929, has four bedrooms, five baths and a half bath in 6,289 feet. The last time it changed hands was in 1988, for $1.9 million.