June 12, 2025HENDERSON PARK AND LOWE COMMENCE OFFICE-TO-RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION AT 1250 MARYLAND AVENUE SW IN WASHINGTON DC
WASHINGTON DC – June 12, 2025 – Henderson Park, the international private equity real estate firm, and Lowe, a national real estate investor, developer and manager, have started work on the office-to-residential adaptive reuse/conversion of 1250 Maryland Avenue SW in Washington DC. Henderson Park and Lowe formed their joint venture in early 2024 and recently closed on construction financing, paving the way for construction to begin.
Currently known as Portals I, the eight-story, 536,000-square-foot office building will become an 11-story, 658,000-square-foot modern apartment building with 428 contemporary rental apartments, 53,000 square feet of supporting retail and commercial space and 493 parking spaces. The conversion work includes the addition of three floors totaling 122,000 square feet to be seamlessly incorporated into the building design, with setbacks to create large patios on the 9th and 11th floors. A new façade will give the building a more contemporary appearance, while respecting the underlying form of the existing building and the Portals complex.
Nick Weber, CEO and Founder of Henderson Park commented: “Securing the construction financing marks a major milestone in our plans for 1250 Maryland. The project achieved design approval from CFA (Commission of Fine Arts) and has executed a design-build construction contract with leading international contractor – Balfour Beatty. These initiatives significantly de-risk the project enabling us to begin the full-scale ‘brown to green’ transformation from outdated office space to 428 modern residential apartments. Converting underutilized buildings in prime locations is central to our strategy of delivering best in class real estate products in markets which are undersupplied.”
Mark Rivers, Executive Vice President at Lowe, added: “One of the many benefits of converting office buildings to residences is the ability to take advantage of the large existing office floorplates to offer generously sized units and abundant amenities. These residences will average over 1,000 square feet, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Most of the residences will have large balconies or terraces that span the width of the unit, also made possible by the deep existing office floorplates.”
The units all will feature modern, top-of-market finishes and floor-to-ceiling windows offering exceptional views of the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, Jefferson Memorial and Potomac River. Plentiful community amenity spaces will include a rooftop resort-style terrace and pool with sweeping views, resident lounge and co-working spaces, two-level fitness center, and dining and personal services offered in the ground floor spaces.
Sustainability and wellness feature prominently in the development program. The adaptive reuse/conversion process will substantially reduce carbon emissions. The redeveloped building has been designed to meet or exceed LEED Gold specifications.
1250 Maryland SW was originally constructed in 1992 and was the first building in the Portals complex on the southwest waterfront. Located near Washington DC’s regional public transportation network, the property provides easy access to the Central Business District and Northern Virginia and is a five-minute walk from the District Wharf. It is situated within a hub of businesses and convenient to a multitude of dining, entertainment and cultural venues in Southwest DC. It is also immediately adjacent to the Salamander DC hotel, where Henderson Park and Salamander recently completed a significant hotel and spa renovation together with the opening of the critically-acclaimed Dōgon Restaurant.
Henderson Park and Lowe are leading the development with architect Beyer Blinder Belle, interior designer KTGY, general contractor Balfour Beatty and landscape architect Oehme, van Sweden | OvS. The construction loan was led by Deutsche Bank.
