A Logan Circle office building that has served as the headquarters for the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees is being primed for conversion into residential units.

The Fortis Cos., a D.C.-based real estate firm formed earlier this year, recently paid $5.5 million for the building at 1628 11th St. NW and is putting together plans to reposition the building as residential units. Company President George Chopivsky III, formerly of the Donohoe Development Co., said he believes the headquarters building will be an ideal candidate for a residential makeover given its location Northeast of Logan Circle and redevelopment potential.

“We’re really excited with the building. We thought that it was an underutilized asset that had tremendous up-side potential,” Chopivsky said.

Fortis acquired the building earlier this summer for $5.5 million in a sale brokered by CBRE Group Inc. The alliance will remain in its space for the next year under a sale-leaseback arrangement while Fortis completes its plans for the project.

Chopivsky said he felt the building would be a stronger candidate for a conversion to apartments or for-sale residential condominiums than to be maintained as office space because of the increase in development activity in the Logan Circle area. Fortis is planning to convert the two-story, 27,871-square-foot building into between 35 and 40 multifamily units. The project will also involve adding two levels to the structure.

The project is one of four in the works for Fortis, with others planned in Anacostia, Columbia Heights and NoMa. Chopvisky is the son of George Chopivsky Jr., who sued the District after it foreclosed on the United Medical Center.