Eliot Spitzer's Return to Washington Is in Real Estate
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Source: Fox News
Fox News reports: Eliot Spitzer is returning to Washington, D.C., but this time as an investor in the commercial real-estate market.
The former New York governor, who resigned in disgrace a year ago after getting caught patronizing a prostitute in a Washington hotel, has purchased a prominent office building blocks from the White House through his father's real-estate company.
The Spitzers are paying $180 million to buy 1615 L St. NW, a 13-story dark-glass building whose tenants include the public-relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, the Washington outpost of the Nixon Presidential Library and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.
The Spitzers are buying the building from a distressed seller that defaulted on part of its debt. Private-equity firm Broadway Partners bought the tower at the end of 2006 for $209 million, according to Real Capital Analytics. Broadway's lenders have moved to foreclose on several buildings.
But the Spitzers aren't paying a bargain-basement price. While $180 million is well below what the previous owner paid, it's above what the building sold for five years ago, $124 million.
Mr. Spitzer said his family intends to hold the property for years and is unconcerned that values might fall further. "We aren't trying to time the global market," he said.
View the full article on Fox News: Eliot Spitzer's Return to Washington Is in Real Estate
Posted by: Matthew Stone