We can’t all be real estate moguls like Donald Trump or Barbara Corcoran, but now DC residents can own a piece of an otherwise nondescript office building when it makes its debut on the Nasdaq next week.
That’s right – a DC building will file for an IPO, allowing individuals to invest in a piece of real estate for the first time. The Washington Post reports that New York-based Etre Financial, LLC is working on a platform for investing in shares of commercial real estate properties.
Of course, you don’t have to live in DC to own a share of the 12-story office building, located a few blocks south of one of the District’s thriving areas, Dupont Circle, at 1201 Connecticut Avenue. The building counts Qorvis Communications, Leo A. Daly architects and a Brooks Brothers store among its tenants.
In this pivotal move in the world of investing, Etre plans to create public real estate trusts (REITs), in which companies pass on most of their taxable income to investors, for individual buildings. In this scenario, each company would have one asset, so stock in each would equal stock of a single building.
Etre is capitalizing on an incentive developed by the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act and has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO aimed at raising $52.3 million. These funds would go toward the purchase price of $85.1 million from current owner Mack-Cali.
The commercial real estate industry rarely experiences disruption, but this new move by Etre certainly fits the bill. To learn more about the company behind the IPO – and to potentially own a little piece of DC – visit Etre’s website here.