Maryland state records indicate Bethesda Office Owner, LLC is a "foreign LLC," which means it was formed in one state but intends to do business in another state. The sale price for the Clark building was not publicly disclosed when announced late this past summer. Now the records show it was a whopping $133,750,000 for a structure Bisnow reports was previously assessed at $75,500,000.
Stonebridge is expected to extensively renovate the building, which was constructed in 1984.
"Maryland state records indicate Bethesda Office Owner, LLC is a 'foreign LLC,' which means it was formed in one state but intends to do business in another state."
ReplyDelete"Carpetbagger"?
Carpetbaggers will not replace Robert
DeleteI do hope theyremodel the exterior of this tired building.
ReplyDeleteI see that 4 Metro Center is being reviewed for Preliminary Approval on November 14, 2019, so it looks like things are about to pick up at the Metro Center. Perhaps Brookfield and Carr can work together to expand the vitality around the bases of the building. The base of the Clark building is just nasty and uninviting, especially along Old Georgetown Road. The glass at the base is very heavily tinted and reflective, and unsuitable for any retail tenants.
With the extra height allowed by the new Sector Plan, I wonder if they could replace the heavy precast concrete facade with more lightweight and energy efficient insulated metal panels. This would reduce the dead load on the existing foundations, and perhaps free up some capacity to expand the height at the top by adding floors. Maybe even do something like they are proposing in Tysons, with a super tall top level to create an iconic landmark. Maybe not 600’ tall as in Tysons, but I bet, if they are clever, they could expand the 16 story building to about 22 stories, and include a much taller and iconically shaped top level that might house an amenity like a panoramic rooftop restaurant or a boardroom for a large corporation.
Carr is already building an iconic new tower at the Avocet Tower, with a striking multistory metal pergola on the top, so I think they might see the value in the creation of a new and expanded Clark Building. Maybe a good chance to finally attract a large Fortune 500 corporate tenant to the epicenter if Bethesda.
The company really sullied Mr. Clark’s good name with the farcical opposition of the neighboring development. They made it all about parks and open spaces for the people when really it was about protecting the value and marketability of their pending sale of the building. The truth is now known. Shame on Clark.
ReplyDeleteThey had ice cream and hot dogs and music and activities outside and talked about how “wouldn’t you rather have open space instead of a building here”? And then offered a token amount of money to configure to a park.
DeleteThey didn’t own the land lease. They never said anything for how many years? Irony. Developer as NIMBY.
That was a horribly deceiving marketing campaign by clark.
DeleteWow. What a big miss on the assessment. Clark probably saved at least half a million a year in property taxes.
ReplyDeleteAren’t most property assessments low? Commercial and residential? Maybe a realtor could weigh in on this.
Delete@9:27am: Most property assessments are low but they're not usually off by 75 percent.
ReplyDeleteBut commercial assessment is odd. A building that's "worth" $75m (land+improvement value) might sell for $40m if it's vacant or $120m if it's fully leased. Being "off by 75%" is more a statement of Bethesda's lease strength than anything.
DeleteThanks 2:23 that was very insightful! Shows there’s always more to it underneath.
DeleteThey missed the mark on this project, it's uninviting, to say the least. Same thing at White Flint where Whole Foods is located, just a lot of cement...
ReplyDelete