Boston Properties has cashed out of Marriott International’s shiny new headquarters in downtown Bethesda, handing its entire stake to longtime partner and local developer The Bernstein Companies. The deal leaves Bernstein as the sole owner of the high-profile campus and gives Boston Properties fresh capital to deploy elsewhere.
According to the Washington Business Journal, the transaction was based on a gross building valuation of about $430 million and transferred Boston Properties’ interest in full to its joint-venture partner. The company told the paper it plans to reinvest the proceeds into new opportunities across its portfolio.
Deal specifics and property background
Boston Properties previously held a 50% interest in the office building at 7750 Wisconsin Avenue, a roughly 734,000 to 736,000 square foot campus delivered in 2022 as Marriott’s worldwide headquarters. Investor materials from the company note that the office building is 100% leased to an affiliate of Marriott International, and that the joint venture secured a 10-year, non-recourse CMBS loan in early 2025, according to BXP’s Q1 2025 release.
Why the sale matters
The move slots neatly into Boston Properties’ broader effort to monetize non-core assets and free up cash for development and other redeployments. Financial reporting and market coverage indicate the firm has executed more than $1 billion in disposals and financings in recent quarters, a backdrop that likely influenced the timing of this latest transfer, according to Morningstar.
Who bought the stake
The Bernstein Companies, the Bethesda-based developer that co-developed the headquarters campus with Boston Properties and built the adjacent hotel, now owns the entire headquarters site outright. The firm has been deeply involved with the parcel assembly and broader redevelopment of the area, as outlined on The Bernstein Companies website.
The shift in ownership is not expected to affect Marriott’s tenancy in the near term, since the headquarters remains under a long-term lease to a Marriott affiliate. What it does do is give Bernstein full control over day-to-day operations and any future plans for the campus. Boston Properties characterized the sale as a straightforward part of its capital allocation strategy in comments to the Washington Business Journal.
