Also making new commitments were Cosmos Corp., Bank of America, New Tower Trust Co. and Knighthorse, signing on for an aggregate 36,700 sf of space--or, 15,200, 12,600, 7,800, and 1,100 sf, respectively. Capping off the list were renewal agreements from HQ Global Workplaces, which will continue to occupy the entire 27,300-sf seventh floor and law firm Caplan, Buckner & Kostecka, which renewed for nearly 6,500 sf.

Trammell Crow Co.'s Roberta Liss, Dennis Owen and Ben Powell, who orchestrate leasing activities at the 365,000-sf office facility for property owner the Meridian Group, rearranged tenants around the building to create larger segments of class A office space. The result of that effort to appeal to larger tenants--which included a $15-million upgrade of the property--is a building vacancy rate of 3%. Two years ago, the building reached a vacancy rate of 23%. The average vacancy rate of office space in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase submarket is 9.5%, according to Cushman & Wakefield's Marketbeat Mid-Year 2005 office report for Suburban Maryland.

A 17-story edifice situated atop the Bethesda Metro Station, 20-year-old 3 Bethesda Metro is part of the 750,000-sf Bethesda Metro Center, which also features a 390-room Hyatt Regency Hotel, a 19,000-sf food court and a parking facility. "With an additional 8,000 sf of leases out for signature," Liss notes, "we are very close to fully leasing this building." Trammell Crow is currently marketing the space above the subway and mezzanine levels at the 20-year-old property for $35 to $36 per sf.