Two suburban office buildings have recently been sold in Chantilly, Virginia, for $3.21 million. The possibility that they may be developed into office condos suggests that this asset class may be making a comeback. The properties were purchased by Stonecroft Venture LLC after having been recently foreclosed.
The new new buyer is considering a number of strategies for its purchase. One of the options on the table is office condo sales. The property’s flexible design will give it the advantage of being able to consider various options before making a decision, according to CBRE Capital Markets’ First Vice President Marc N. Rampulla.
The buildings could have been sold separately, but the bank wasn’t interested in carving them up into separate deals, according to Rampulla.
“We did receive quite a bit of interest from individual condo investors to larger users interested in pieces of the building,” he says. “But my client was not willing to entertain those proposals.”
The buildings are located at 14797 and 14801 Murdock Street and offer approximately 80,000 sq ft of office condominium space. They can accommodate commercial tenants or condominium purchasers looking for between 925 and 47,000 sq ft of space.
The deal was on the market for six months and the buyer received seven offers, according to Rampulla. Stonecroft is interested in continuing with the condo sales strategy of the previous owner, but “on a more financially feasible basis.”
The demand for office condos declined to almost nil during the recession but has started to pick up again, even if prices have a long way to go before matching pre-recession levels.
Before the recession, prices were between $200.00-$250.00 per sq ft. Now prices for these properties are sitting in the low-mid $100s per sq ft range.
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