The private equity real estate firm Henderson Park, working in partnership with the real estate developer and investor Lowe, has commenced work on the office-to-residential conversion of 1250 Maryland Avenue SW in Washington, DC.
Currently known as Portals I, the eight-story, 536,000-square-foot office building opened in 1992 and will become an 11-story, 658,000-square-foot modern apartment building with 428 rental apartments, 53,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 493 parking spaces. The conversion work includes the addition of three floors totaling 122,000 square feet to be incorporated into the building design, with setbacks to create large patios on the 9th and 11th floors plus a new façade. The redeveloped building has been designed to meet or exceed LEED Gold specifications.
Henderson Park and Lowe formed their joint venture in early 2024 and recently closed on construction financing.
“Securing the construction financing marks a major milestone in our plans for 1250 Maryland,” said Nick Weber, CEO and founder of Henderson Park. “The project achieved design approval from CFA (Commission of Fine Arts) and has executed a design-build construction contract with leading international contractor – Balfour Beatty. These initiatives significantly de-risk the project enabling us to begin the full-scale ‘brown to green’ transformation from outdated office space to 428 modern residential apartments. Converting underutilized buildings in prime locations is central to our strategy of delivering best in class real estate products in markets which are undersupplied.”
Mark Rivers, executive vice president at Lowe, added, “One of the many benefits of converting office buildings to residences is the ability to take advantage of the large existing office floorplates to offer generously sized units and abundant amenities. These residences will average over 1,000 square feet, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Most of the residences will have large balconies or terraces that span the width of the unit, also made possible by the deep existing office floorplates.”
Photo courtesy of Republic Properties
