Merrill Lynch Makeover

The Merrill Lynch Building in Columbia Town Center has changed hands…again. The twelve story office tower next to The Mall was originally developed by Pat McCuan and Peter Kirk in 1982 as the Equitable Bank Building. Since then the 137,000 square foot building has traded several times, most recently last month when First Potomac Realty purchased the property from BIT Investments, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

According to the Howard/Arundel Report newsletter, the new owners intend to spend $2 to $3 million in renovations to the property. It won’t be the first time for that either. The Merrill Lynch building has undergone a series of renovations over the years including several attempts to correct continuing problems with the HVAC system.

It wasn’t one of the unions’ better real estate investments. BIT paid $20 million for the building in March of 2007. The sales price to First Potomac was $11 million.