Dealmaker: Fannie Mae Sells Headquarters to Roadside Development/NASH for $89M

Roadside Development, Washington, D.C., and joint venture partner NASH–North America Sekisui House–Arlington, Va., purchased Fannie Mae’s headquarters campus at 3900 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

The Washington Post reported that the venture paid $89 million for the 228,000-square-foot building on 10 acres, one of the largest development sites in Washington. The venture plans to preserve the main building and not seek zoning changes, the newspaper report said. 

The Nikkei Asian Review reported that the venture may renovate the building into a shopping center and build residential condominiums on the undeveloped land.

Built in 1958, Fannie Mae’s headquarters is located along Wisconsin Avenue surrounded by both high-density neighborhoods and public parks. Fannie Mae headquarters will relocate to 1100 15th Street in northwest Washington, the Washington Post’s former headquarters location. The GSE will remain at 3900 Wisconsin Avenue NW until its new headquarters deliver.

Privately held commercial real estate firm Roadside Development specializes in commercial property adaptive reuse. Its most recent venture is City Market at O, a 1-million-square-foot development in northwest Washington’s Shaw neighborhood with more than 600 housing units, a 200-room hotel and supermarket-anchored retail space.  

North America Sekisui House is the U.S. business unit Sekisui House Ltd, Osaka, Japan’s largest homebuilder. 

The Washington Post noted that Fannie Mae also sold its building at 3939 Wisconsin Avenue NW to Sidwell Friends School for $8.2 million and another building at 4250 Connecticut Avenue NW to Bernstein Management, Washington, D.C., for $24.8 million in separate transactions.