Walk into any capital-markets panel in Washington right now and the same split shows up: institutional money and private money are chasing entirely different deals in the same broken office market. Both claim to be buying opportunity. The trades barely overlap.
According to aol.com, speakers from The Meridian Group and EastBanc laid out two opposite approaches to the sector's post-pandemic reset at Bisnow's DMV Capital Markets and CRE Finance Summit in Washington. The divide is sharper than the usual institutional-versus-private framing, and it tells you a lot about how the office market is likely to clear.
Quick take
- The Meridian Group said institutional investors are focused on "conviction" plays in trophy and mission-critical office assets where tenants are sticky.
- EastBanc launched a new office strategy in 2025 targeting buildings it can buy for a low basis, with plans to convert or reposition them.
- Other private buyers, including Garfield Investments, Broad Creek Capital, and Jemal Equities, have closed DC office trades at deeply discounted prices in the tens of dollars per square foot.
- EastBanc is bidding actively, with a goal of one deal by end of summer 2025 and multiple deals by the end of 2027.
The institutional view: pay up for the haves
Gary Block, chief investment officer at The Meridian Group, was blunt at the L'Enfant Plaza summit. His firm, which raises from institutional investors, is heavily focused on the "haves" of the office market. That means trophy locations, mission-critical assets, and product where the landlord has real use.
Block's own book backs that up. TMG bought an empty high-rise tower in the Boro district in Tysons last year, and this summer picked up a multi-building Chantilly portfolio tied to the area's defense and intelligence tenants. Those are not distressed trades. They are bets that the right building in the right submarket still commands premium pricing even when the broader asset class is bleeding.
That is the institutional mindset in one sentence: when the sector is in trouble, narrow the funnel, not widen it.
The private view: buy the basis, hold forever
EastBanc, a 40-year-old D.C. Family office, is doing the opposite. Brian Whitener, the firm's head of acquisitions, said basis is what they are after. EastBanc wants buildings around the low-$100-per-square-foot range, with a plan to either fix them up as office or convert them to residential. CEO Philippe Lanier told Bisnow the firm aimed to close its first purchase by the end of summer 2025 and is eyeing up to six deals by the end of 2027.
The pitch is simple and hard to argue with on paper: if you can buy well-located product at a price that pencils for a long-term hold, you do not need the office market to recover on your timeline. You just need rent to cover debt and operations while you reposition.
Garfield Investments and Broad Creek Capital paid a deeply discounted price for a Navy Yard building last year. Matthew Jemal's Jemal Equities closed a Dupont Circle deal after buying the loan at a similar low basis this spring. The pricing tells you the margin the firm actually has in the deal.
Our analysis
This is not just a story about who likes which building. It is a story about who can stomach what kind of risk.
Institutional capital is basically saying: the office market is a stock pickers' game now, and we will only own the names we would have owned in 2019. Private capital is saying: this is a real estate play, not a leasing bet. We underwrite to a stabilized yield on a five-to-ten-year reposition, not to the next lease cycle.
The trade-off is clear. Trophy buyers get liquidity, financing, and exit optionality. They also pay full price in a market where full price still looks high relative to trailing occupancy. Basis buyers get optionality on conversion and a margin of safety, but they take financing risk, leasing risk, and execution risk on construction. Family offices can hold through that. Most fund managers cannot.
What to watch next: whether EastBanc actually closes a deal by its self-imposed summer 2025 deadline, and whether any of the new low-basis trades get refinanced within a couple of years. If they do, the basis play gets validated. If they do not, expect private capital to step back and trophy product to get bid up further.
What a reader could actually do here
Say you run a small family investment operation with a long horizon and a D.C. Presence. A reasonable read of this panel is to ignore the trophy narrative entirely and screen for low-basis assets in submarkets with residential conversion potential or stable federal-adjacent demand. Underwrite to a stable mid-single-digit yield on a five-year hold, not to a trade exit. If you cannot find financing that works at those yields, the deal is not ready, full stop. If you can, you are doing exactly what EastBanc says it is doing.
Bottom line
The DC office market is not one trade, it is two. Institutional buyers are buying quality at a discount to history. Private buyers are buying price and betting on time. Both can be right. They just cannot own the same building.
Key takeaways
- DC office distress is now a two-track market, not a single pricing reset.
- Institutional capital is concentrating on trophy and mission-critical product; private capital is buying sub-$100-per-square-foot basis.
- EastBanc aims for one deal by end of summer 2025 and up to six by the end of 2027.
- Basis trades at deeply discounted per-square-foot pricing have already closed this year.
- Watch deal closings and refinancings, not panel talk, to judge whether the basis strategy works.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the institutional and private plays in DC office right now?
Institutional buyers are paying for trophy and mission-critical assets where tenants are sticky. Private buyers like EastBanc are buying cheaper buildings at a low basis with plans to reposition or hold long term.
How cheap are DC office buildings actually trading for?
Recent private deals have closed at deeply discounted per-square-foot prices, including a Navy Yard building acquired by Garfield Investments and Broad Creek Capital, and a Dupont Circle building picked up by Jemal Equities.
Is the DC office market recovering?
Not broadly. The panel at Bisnow's summit described a split market, with trophy assets still attracting institutional interest and weaker product available only at deep discounts to historical pricing.
What should investors track to judge whether the basis strategy works?
Watch whether EastBanc and similar buyers actually close deals on time, and whether any of these low-basis trades get re-financed successfully in the next couple of years.
Why are private buyers interested in office-to-residential conversion?
Buildings bought at a low basis can often be repositioned as multifamily or mixed-use at numbers that pencil for a long-term hold, even when traditional office leasing remains soft.