Tegna to sell McLean headquarters to Tamares for $270 million

Tegna said Tuesday that it has signed a contract to sell its McLean headquarters building for $270 million to Tamares, a London-based private investment group.

The companies expect the deal to close by the fourth quarter of this year. Tamares’ Chairman Poju Zabludowicz said in a statement that the company plans to enhance the property at 7950 Jones Branch Drive to attract new tenants.

Tegna’s corporate headquarters building is nearly 800,000 square feet and sits on a 17-acre site. The facility, completed in 2001, features two glass wrapped office towers, a plaza and landscaped terraces with cascading water features and a reflecting pool.

Tegna will continue to occupy a portion of the building for 18 months. The broadcast and digital company, which was named Gannett until it spun off its publishing division, “remains committed to staying in the Washington, D.C.,  area and a process is underway to find the most appropriate space to meet our company needs,” President and CEO, Gracia Martore, said in a statement.

Tamares makes investments in real estate, technology and leisure industries. Its holdings include 1500 Broadway in Times Square in New York; the 27-acre Plaza America complex in Reston and hotel properties and land in downtown Las Vegas.

The deal was brokered by Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc.