"The landlord was very cooperative during the negotiations," Fitzgerald, who is SVP at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. "It agreed to pay for the entire build-out, instead of just providing a tenant allowance for improvements." Fitzgerald attributes that concession to the size of the lease--MPRI will be occupying stories two through seven as it moves into the building in phases. "The building owner's marketing program was geared to securing a tenant that would lease half a floor to a couple of floors. MPRI is occupying virtually the entire building," he says.

The asking rate for space at Braddock Rd is $32 per sf. Fitzgerald declined to provide figures about the lease or the cost of the build-out, but a market source estimates the aggregate value of the lease to be more than $40 million and the cost of renovations to be around $6 million.

The lease is the largest inked for a private sector company in nearly 10 years in Old Town, according to CBRE. The building has been vacant for more than a year after Public Broadcasting Service relocated to Crystal City in April 2006. During that time the lobby and common areas underwent some revision. For MPRI, the building is large enough to accommodate its consolidation of its Springfield and Alexandria offices as well as to enable it to expand. The company had considered other locations in Virginia but decided to stay in Alexandria, Fitzgerald says.