CareFirst's former Washington headquarters at 840 First Street NE has quietly hit the market, turning a mostly dark NoMa office tower one block from Union Station into one of D.C.'s bigger real estate question marks. The 12-story building, completed in 2003 and once emblazoned with the insurer's name, is now roughly 85% vacant, and brokers are pitching it as a blank slate for a buyer willing to rethink the block.
Marketing materials from JLL put the property at about 253,164 rentable square feet across 12 floors, with typical floor plates of roughly 23,000 square feet. The listing, last updated in April, notes the building is about 15% leased, with tenants including The Children’s Defense Fund and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The brokerage leans heavily on the building's one-block walk to Union Station and proximity to Capitol Hill as a key part of the sales pitch.
Public ownership records and the company's SEC filings show the property is part of the portfolio of Office Properties Income Trust. As reported by the Washington Business Journal, the owner and listing broker are marketing the asset as a candidate for conversion into residential or mixed-use uses because of the high vacancy. The strategy tracks with broader portfolio moves after CareFirst trimmed its NoMa footprint in recent years.
NoMa's Office Script Gets a Rewrite
The listing lands in the middle of a shifting NoMa office market. CareFirst shrank its presence at the building in 2023, contributing to the rising vacancy, according to Bisnow. Across central D.C., more landlords are testing residential or mixed-use conversions as a way to absorb stubborn office supply while meeting housing demand. Cresa's first quarter 2026 market report highlights a growing wave of conversion activity across the region as one possible outlet for underperforming office buildings.
Conversion Play: Clean Shot or Long Grind?
In their pitch, brokers describe 840 First Street NE as suitable for a full-building user, a multi-tenant roster, or a wholesale switch to another use entirely. The roughly 23,000 square foot floor plates present both an opportunity and a complication for any residential plan, since a buyer would have to weigh the cost of gutting the interior to add egress, plumbing, and amenity cores against the pull of a NoMa address a block from Union Station.
Marketing materials from JLL also note that the asset is being offered free and clear of in-place financing, a detail that could speed the timeline for an all-cash buyer ready to move quickly.
For now, brokers are circulating offering materials and taking calls, while the preview listing holds back on publishing detailed terms or an asking price. Initial reporting, which included contact information for the brokers handling the sale, appeared in the Washington Business Journal. Given the site’s transit access and the broader trend toward adaptive reuse in D.C., both housing-focused developers and institutional investors are likely to give this NoMa tower a serious look.
