WASHINGTON, DC - Urban Investment Partners (UIP) in partnership with Infinity Real Estate (IRE) of New York City has acquired a 114-unit apartment building at 1841 Columbia Road, NW in Washington, DC, formerly known as The Alcazar, for $26 million. The seller was Fairfield Residential Company. Arbor Commercial Mortgage of New York provided the acquisition and project debt financing for the venture.
1841 Columbia Road is a prominent pre-war mixed-use building conveniently located in the heart of Adams Morgan. The property features 20,000 square feet of prime neighborhood retail space. Current retail tenants include Napoleon Bistro, Bedrock Billiards, Gary Taylor Framing, Bank of America, World Cleaners, and Fleet Feet, which specializes in running, bicycling, and swimming gear and is owned by local resident Shawn Fenty, brother of former Washington, DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.
The partners plan to invest more than $7 million on a comprehensive building renovation and modernization program to include a complete window and retail storefront replacement, a new environmentally friendly water-sourced heating and cooling system, redesigned common areas, and a rooftop terrace certain to be one of the largest and most exciting resident amenities in the District.
UIP General Contracting, Inc. (www.uipgc.com), a subsidiary of UIP, is performing the renovation work, which is expected to be completed by December 2012. UIP subsidiary UIP Property Management, Inc. (www.uippm.com) will assume the property management of the building immediately.
“As with many of our other multifamily properties in Washington, D.C., we have reached a win/win agreement with the tenants’ association, allowing UIP to make much-needed improvements to the property to extend its useful life for another century,” said UIP Principal Steve Schwat. “Current residents will receive no rent increase beyond the standard annual CPI-based increase specified by DC rent control law.”
"1841 Columbia Road is a wonderful historic residential building that we plan to upgrade to a Class A quality finish,” Schwat continued. Added Wout Coster, UIP Principal: “We are thrilled to restore another building in the heart of Adams Morgan after finishing our condo project at Wyoming and 18th St. This acquisition will add to the over 300 units that we own in this highly sought-after submarket."
Founded in 2001, the UIP family of companies is a leading real estate investment, development, and property management firm based in Washington, DC. The firm invests opportunistically in a variety of asset classes, with a primary focus on multifamily properties in select neighborhoods. Since 2001, UIP’s principals have sponsored real estate funds throughout the D.C. metropolitan region with a total valuation of over $375 million. For more information about UIP and/or its funds, visit www.uipllc.com
Infinity Real Estate is a New-York-based private real estate owner, investor, and operator focused on the acquisition, redevelopment, and re-positioning of commercial properties across select U.S. markets. Infinity Real Estate is the property acquisitions, development, and management unit, owned and operated by the Infinity Group. The Company’s currently owned portfolio comprises of approximately 50 commercial properties and development projects in 13 states. Through its affiliates and portfolio companies Infinity oversees in excess of 115 properties representing over 20 million square feet. For more information about Infinity Real Estate, visit www.infinity-group.com