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Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) announces the marketing for sale of the Washington Intern Student Housing (“WISH”) Portfolio. The Portfolio is a collection of apartment buildings, townhomes and rowhomes carefully curated over WISH’s 30-year history. NKF’s Vice Chairman Christine Espenshade and Senior Managing Director Lisa Benjamin are representing ownership in the offering.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for investors to acquire a portfolio of scale in Washington’s most prestigious locations for luxury multifamily, condominium conversions or co-living,” said Espenshade. “The history of these assets and the care that has been taken to preserve their place in the neighborhoods is invaluable.”
The WISH portfolio consists of 17 buildings across 122 units, providing unlimited alternatives to meet the area’s housing demand. The properties provide convenient and desirable housing that are Metro accessible and proximate to all of Washington’s notable landmarks. The portfolio is a mix of traditional multifamily buildings and single-unit properties that creates ultimate flexibility for future use.
“The WISH portfolio provides investors multiple options including turn-key housing solutions, co-living, corporate housing or short stay furnished apartments in addition to operating the properties as luxury rental or for-sale housing,” added Benjamin.
WISH’s master lease structure for the portfolio allows a buyer to avoid the delays and uncertainty of TOPA, a highly unusual feature of the offering. In addition to the Capitol Hill and Chinatown properties, 2807 Connecticut Avenue, a five-story 38-unit building in Woodley Park, is also being offered for sale.
“In the late 1990’s my husband and I realized that there were all these students coming to DC who didn’t have money for food or the metro, so we started acquiring properties offering affordable housing where they’d pay no more than what they were charged back in their hometowns,” said Jackie Lewis of the WISH Foundation. “We bought prime properties because we had safety concerns for the students and found we didn’t need to charge a lot in rent as we were able to leverage the appreciation of the properties as a way to subsidize their rents.”
Under the ownership of the Lewis’s, the properties have housed more than 25,000 students visiting Washington and became landmarks in their respective neighborhoods. WISH was founded to provide interns coming to the nation’s capital with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the magic of the city while living in safe places within walking distance to every major national landmark. The proceeds from the sale of the portfolio will go back into the foundation where WISH can continue giving to students in need via university scholarships and donations.
About Newmark Knight Frank
Newmark Knight Frank (“NKF”), operated by Newmark Group, Inc. (“Newmark Group”) (NASDAQ: NMRK), is one of the world’s leading and most trusted commercial real estate advisory firms, offering a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NKF’s 18,000 professionals operate from approximately 480 offices on six continents. NKF’s investor/owner services and products include investment sales, agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence, underwriting, government-sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Occupier services and products include tenant representation, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, global corporate services consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.
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