Deal of The Day: DC Senate Square Sells Again

For $41 million more than its auction price just five months ago. From Washington Business Journal:

The 432-unit Senate Square apartment building that sold at auction in February has traded hands again, selling for $162.3 million to LaSalle Investment Management.

Westbrook Partners sold the property, on the 200 block of Eye Street NE, for a whopping $41 million more now than its price at auction five months ago, fetching about $375,741 per unit.

Here's some background on the property. Senate Square was developed by troubled New York based Broadway Management Co. in 2007. The units were originally marketed as condos, but eventually all sold units were cancelled and the project was converted to a rental as a result of the housing market downturn. The property went into receivership in late 2009 and was put up for auction in February this year. According to DCmud, the sole bidder was the mezz lender, bidding $1 million, plus the $120 million outstanding note. Final auction price was approximately $280K/unit.

At $162 million, Lasalle is paying almost $376k per unit, 25% more than what Equity Residential paid for Dumont, another Broadway failed condo project located in a better submarket. I don't know what the average unit size is at Senate Square, but at $376k/unit, I would think the price is getting closer to the original condo sale price. Maybe Lasalle will convert the units back to condos, given the rumored condo boom in DC?