CoStar Group Sees Nearly 150% Return On Sale Of DC Headquarters (irony alert)

HousingWire ^ | February 4, 2011 | Christine Ricciardi

[khnyny]

CoStar Group, a commercial real estate analytics and marketing firm, sold the building that houses its Washington, D.C., headquarters this week for $101 million, which is a 146% gain on the price the firm paid for it.

GLL L-Street 1331, an affiliate of Munich-based GLL Real Estate Partners, bought the 2-year-old building with cash in a deal expected to close later this month.

CoStar with more than 1,000 employees will still occupy the majority of 1331 L St. after the sale is complete. The firm will put $15 million in escrow to fund additions and improvements to its space and the common areas of the building.

CoStar acquired the property from the Mortgage Bankers Association one year ago this week for about $41 million, or $243 a square foot. The purchase price was one of the lowest paid on a per-square-foot basis for a new office building in Washington, D.C., in more than a decade. CoStar received a nearly 150% return on investment with the sale.

[khnyny]

CoStar bought this building from the Mortgage Bankers Association about a year ago. It was a short sale. How ironic.

[the invisib1e hand]

So, who does costar know?

[spacejunkie01]

nice return :) I can’t believe anything was a short sale in DC with the growth of gov’t.

I’m guessing that GLL is Gaedeke Landers.

I do biz w/ both entities.

[khnyny]

Good question, who knows? That being said, CoStar Group analyzes these types of properties, that is their specialty.

It could be that the Mortgage Bankers Association was just dumb...how they could be that dumb boggles the mind...oh wait, let me think back... maybe not, lol.