Former Washington Bible College, located on 6511 Princess Garden Parkway in Lanham and containing nine separate buildings, sold to foreign investment group
Lantian Development, LLC, a full-service real estate investment and development company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, has completed the sale of a 62-acre campus on 6511 Princess Garden Parkway in the Lanham section of Prince George’s County, that formerly functioned as the Washington Bible College. The sales price was $16.5 million. Consisting of nine buildings comprising approximately 150,000 square feet of space, the buyer was Washington Education Zone, LLC, a foreign investment group. John Gibb, Danny Sheridan and Bernie McCarthy of JLL represented the selling entity, The International Learning Hub, LLC.
Located adjacent to the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) and just south of MD Route 295, the master-planned campus was developed in phases from the 1940s through the 1980s and consists of a mix of buildings that were utilized for administrative offices, classrooms, a student lounge, dormitory space, bookstore, cafeteria with dining hall, a library and an assembly hall. A multi-functional gymnasium, equipped with locker rooms, classrooms, a fitness center and racquetball facilities is contained on the campus. Multiple athletic fields are also placed within the site that is significantly wooded with a running stream. Lantian purchased the property in 2015.
“Following our acquisition of the unique property for approximately $11.6 million, our team carried out light operations and continued evaluations to determine long-term highest and best uses,” explained Brian McLaughlin of Lantian. “We explored a number of strong scenarios that leveraged the campus’s signature buildings and almost pastoral setting, while we examined emerging market conditions in the suburban Maryland environment.”
“Ultimately, an opportunity arose to dispose this property and we considered this the best course of action for the long-term objectives of Lantian. The new owners acquired a strategically-positioned site with the potential to function in a variety of uses to satisfy the specialized real estate needs of different audiences,” stated Robert J. Elliott, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Lantian. “We intend to deploy the funds gained from this sale to advance the development of several of our existing land holdings, including the Shady Grove Neighborhood Center, a mixed-use development in Rockville. We also remain extremely active in our pursuit of new properties and near-term development opportunities that fit our acquisition profile and that enable us to build long-term value.”
“We are very pleased with the results we achieved for Lantian,” remarked John Gibb, Managing Director, JLL “By orchestrating a systematic process in approaching the market with this unique opportunity, we were able to cast a wide net and touch several different sectors that could have interest in a property like this. “We used a number of avenues to market the property and also leveraged our extensive personal contacts in education, non-profit, residential development and capital providers.”
Lantian Development, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is a real estate investment and development company focused on development within the metropolitan Washington, D.C. footprint. For additional information, visit www.lantiandevelopment.com
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and in-vestment management. A Fortune 500 company, JLL helps real estate owners, occupiers and investors achieve their business ambitions. In 2016, JLL had revenue of $6.8 billion and fee revenue of $5.8 billion and, on behalf of clients, managed 4.4 billion square feet, or 409 million square meters, and completed sales acquisitions and finance transactions of approximately $145 billion. At the end of the second quarter of 2017, JLL had nearly 300 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of nearly 80,000. As of June 30, 2017, LaSalle Investment Management had $57.6 billion of real estate under asset management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit ir.jll.com
