Tenleytown’s Maxim Goes for $5 Million–to Doug Jemal
It’s a prime piece of real estate, right there at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Brandywine Street NW. It has potential in all the mixed-use ways that make urban designers drool.
And so Tenleytown’s Maxim building started out with a bidding price of $5 million today in a foreclosure auction at a downtown law firm. The previous mixed-use project for the property fell through.
When the bidding started, the scene resembled a typical recent day at the New York Stock Exchange. No one wanted to buy at the starting price. Silence. An estimated 60 people crowded around a conference table.
So then someone threw out a bid of about 2.5 million bucks, and auctioneer Tranzon was in business. Bidders then went back and forth, driving the price up to $3.7 million. Then they lost interest, perhaps considering that this strip of Wisconsin Avenue has long been a boring and unhip place to do anything in the District of Columbia.
A ceiling appeared to have been hit. $3.7 million–that was $1.3 million lower than where the bidding started. So the auction recessed for a bit, while officials from Columbia Bank discussed whether they’d move forward with the auction.
They came back and said, indeed, they’d be selling the property–not exactly a huge vote of confidence in our economic outlook.
But none other than maverick D.C. developer Doug Jemal was there to save the day. The regular-guy-projecting rich man proceeded to engage in a round of bidding against a representative from American University. The bidding ended at–surprise!!!–$5 million. Jemal came away the winner.
Afterward, I caught up with Jemal in the building’s elevator. His son stood next to him with a thick roll of architectural plans under his arm.
I asked Jemal why he’d waited to up the ante until the very end. I never saw him put up his hand once during the first round of bidding. “I’m allowed to do whatever I want to do,” he replied.
Reporting by Ruth Samuelson, phoned in to Editor Erik Wemple. Late additions by Ruth Samuelson.
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1:16 pm
You gotta love Douglas Jemal. He may take his time and charge exorbitant rents, but the quality of his product is the best out there (Abdo being a close second).
Good recap! I especially loved this- “Then they lost interest, perhaps considering that this strip of Wisconsin Avenue has long been a boring and unhip place to do anything in the District of Columbia.” HA! So true… Don’t tell Sue Hemberger. She likes it juuust the way it is.
1:28 pm
It was a great auction today. There were some real heavy hitters at the auction. I just wrote a post as soon as I got back to my office on the event. If Doug’s successful history proves correct – he may have just made himself another few million.
http://buildingdc.com/uncategorized/maxim-condominium-foreclosure-update/
4:29 pm
Actually, I supported IBG’s application for a PUD for that site. Then again, I’d have been happy with the pool hall (or the hardware store that wanted to move in). S doesn’t know wtf s/he’s talking about.
The selling price and the level of interest in the site suggest that all these claims about how “NIMBYs” are scaring developers away from T’town are just BS.