CoStar moving HQ from DC after $339M purchase

Real estate data giant CoStar Group is officially on the move from Washington, D.C. to northern Virginia.

Andy Florance’s company is relocating to Central Place Tower, a 31-story office building in Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood. The company announced its move officially in a press release on Wednesday, saying it would occupy 175,000 square feet and invest $14 million in the observation deck at 1201 Wilson Boulevard.

That release was missing a critical detail, however, which was exposed by CoStar’s own vast database of commercial information, Bisnow reported. CoStar paid $325 million for the 552,000-square-foot building, as well as $14.2 million for the land underneath. The price works out to roughly $588 per square foot.

In a statement, Florance said the purchase was “financially strategic.” The building was 97.8 percent leased at the time of sale. CoStar will likely move in at the end of the year.

CoStar’s likely move was reported at the start of the month. The property is relatively new, having been completed in 2018. It was developed by JBG Smith, which owned the property in a 50-50 partnership with PGIM Real Estate; the joint venture lease had leased three parcels of the underlying land from private ownership.

Research and consulting firm Gartner is the anchor tenant of the property, occupying more than half the building. Last year, the company put 318,000 square feet up for sublease. There are also two co-working companies there, where WeWork and Convene take up six floors combined.

CoStar is expected to house 650 employees at the property, including 500 relocating from the capital, where its headquarters have been based for 14 years. Virginia is providing nearly $5 million in economic incentives to CoStar for the move.

It’s been a busy week for CoStar, which flooded the Super Bowl airwaves with a marketing blitz featuring Dan Levy, Heidi Gardner and Lil Wayne. The four commercials aired Sunday were part of a $1 billion marketing campaign, largely driven around Homes.com.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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