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WASHINGTON, DC-A new tenant, the Recording Industry Association of America, has joined the roster of businesses at the Woodies Building at 1025 F St. NW having signed a lease for 25,000 sf of class A office space. The historic 498,000-sf office and retail facility is the former home of the District's Woodward & Lothrop department store, or Woodies, which vacated the property in 1995 after having occupied it since 1902. A $100-million redevelopment of the facility was completed in 2004.

Acting on behalf of RIAA, Sherry Cushman and Sally Wilson of CB Richard Ellis negotiated the 15-year lease of space within the 356,000-sf office segment with property owner Douglas Development. Financial specifics of the transaction have not been disclosed; however, the average rate for class A office space in the city's central business district is $41.10 per sf, according to Cushman & Wakefield's Marketbeat Snapshot for the first quarter of 2005.

Located on nearly an entire city block, the 10-story structure is home to such tenants as the Environmental Protection Agency, which occupies a whole floor. RIAA will relocate from its current site at 1330 Connecticut Ave. NW early next year. "This building offered RIAA everything it was looking for--a central location in the heart of DC's CBD near Capitol Hill, as well as easy access to Metro," CBRE's Cushman notes. "The space also easily lends itself to building out a recording studio that will allow the association to demonstrate its members' products to a variety of audiences." RIAA's lease on its existing 27,750-sf space is scheduled to expire at the end of 2006.