USC Capital Campus. Picture by Alan Karchmer, courtesy of the College of Southern California
The College of Southern California is formally establishing an East Coast anchor in Washington, D.C. The Los Angeles-based instructional establishment has acquired a 60,000-square-foot boutique workplace property from Stream Realty Companions, with plans to open the USC Capital Campus there subsequent month. The Class A constructing at 1771 N St. NW traded for $49.4 million, public information present.
USC scoured the native workplace market earlier than committing to 1771 N St. “We have been engaged within the seek for a minimum of 4 months,” Christopher J. Toomey, vp & govt director of USC Amenities Planning and Administration, instructed Industrial Property Government. Positioned within the Dupont Circle neighborhood, the property didn’t begin as a premier workplace vacation spot; the present constructing is a product of Stream’s reimagination undertaking.
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Stream had acquired 1771 N St., initially developed in 1968, from the Nationwide Affiliation of Broadcasters in 2018, in a $36.1 million transaction that allowed the affiliation to remain put till it relocated to a brand new deal with. In 2021, Stream delivered the reinvented workplace tower, having transformed it from a Class B asset to a top-of-the-line workplace constructing at a value of roughly $23 million, in keeping with the Washington, D.C., Financial Partnership’s 2021/2022 growth report.
HOK led the unmistakable transformation of 1771 N. St., beginning with a putting, curved glass curtain wall on one façade of the seven-story constructing. Present options embrace a penthouse amenity area, occasion venues and a rooftop terrace. The college additionally plans so as to add school rooms, research areas, a theater, a convention room and a bookstore.
Moreover, the property, like so many different buildings in D.C., is a mannequin of effectivity designed to fulfill LEED Gold certification requirements. Flooring-to-ceiling glass panels permit for pure mild, and enhanced indoor air high quality methods and extremely environment friendly HVAC programs function a basis for the property’s give attention to well being and well-being.
Ray of sunshine
USC’s acquisition belies the present state of the Larger Washington workplace market, which continues to wrestle within the post-pandemic local weather. The overall workplace emptiness charge within the metro climbed to 18.9 % within the fourth quarter of 2022, in keeping with a report by JLL. And whereas town recorded destructive internet absorption of roughly 1 million sq. ft in 2022, the trophy workplace phase achieved wholesome absorption ranges and is anticipated to proceed to take action.
In a ready assertion, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser stated the USC Capital Campus can be catalytic for the northern finish of town’s Central Enterprise District. Bowser added that new campus matches into D.C.’s Comeback Plan that focuses on the robust presence of ‘Feds, Eds and Meds’ within the district.
