The DC Building With a Highway Running Through It Just Sold And The New Owner Is Thinking Conversion

• June 3rd

by UrbanTurf Staff

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One of the more unusual properties in the District — a century-old federal office building with an interstate on-ramp threading through its interior — is the latest downtown conversion candidate. 

The Liberty Loan Building at 401 14th Street SW (map) overlooking the Tidal Basin recently sold for roughly $15 million. The General Services Administration, which had jurisdiction over the property following a transfer from the National Park Service, offloaded the building as part of the federal government's ongoing effort to shed underutilized real estate from its portfolio.

The sale sets the stage for a significant redevelopment. The new owner, Satvik Raj, has already filed a map amendment application seeking to rezone the property from its current unzoned status to D-8, the District's highest-density mixed-use downtown zone. On Tuesday, Raj told the Washington Business Journal that he sees the future of the building as either high-end condos or a hotel. 

Any redevelopment will face a layered review process — the property is located within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, was found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in late 2024, and carries a historic preservation covenant requiring sign-off from the DC State Historic Preservation Officer for any alterations. The sale also includes a portion of the Washington Monument Grounds, conveyed with restrictions requiring that landscaping and streetscape elements remain compatible with the surrounding monumental setting. 

The Liberty Loan Building would join a neighborhood that is quietly becoming one of the more active conversion corridors in the city. Just a few blocks to the east, Carmel Partners delivered the 562-unit Annex on 12th from the historic Cotton Annex building — itself a former Department of Agriculture facility — last year. Closer still, Lowe Enterprises and Henderson Park are in the process of converting the office building at 1250 Maryland Avenue SW into 421 apartments, with a reskinned facade and a three-story addition designed by Beyer Blinder Belle.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_dc_building_with_a_highway_running_through_it_just_sold_and_the_new_own/24693.