Tech CEO Drops $100M On 2 D.C.-Area Office Properties
July 12, 2022 | Jacob Wallace, Bisnow Washington, D.C.
A technology executive with a long history of commercial real estate investments has executed a pair of office acquisitions worth more than $100M combined, Bisnow has learned.
Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer bought the office buildings at 1801 L St. NW in D.C. and 7799 Leesburg Pike in Tysons, property records and sources familiar with the deals confirm.
Schaeffer acquired the Downtown D.C. office property for $63M on July 8, D.C. property records show. The 207K SF building is 80% leased by the General Services Administration for the next seven years, according to a source involved in the deal.
The seller, Eleven Eighteen Limited Partnership, was a partner in the building’s development in the 1980s, according to a 1987 Washington Post article. Since then, the office space has reportedly been occupied by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The limited partnership consists of more than a dozen individual investors, according to the source.
The Tysons property, a two-tower, 386K SF office asset, was formerly owned by Lerner Enterprises and sold for approximately $50M, according to a second source involved with that deal. Lerner developed, owned and managed the property and recently renovated it, according to its website.
That property is roughly 40% leased, according to the source. Tenants include the GSA, PAE and M&T Bank, according to Lerner’s website. Lerner Enterprises didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Schaeffer’s plans for the buildings remain unclear. Cogent Communications declined to comment on either deal.