Integral, which will be using the building as its headquarters, plans to move in February 2009. COPT did not return calls in time for publication.
Randall Griffin, COPT's president and CEO, attributes the lease in part to the firm's strong ties with the government and defense information technology sectors. "We are extremely pleased, in this current economic environment, to announce this major lease with a new tenant in Columbia Gateway Business Park," he says. "Integral is a tenant in our Colorado Springs portfolio and we look forward to growing with them in this new location."
This is the second major lease inked by COPT this month. An unidentified tenant signed a contract to occupy 123,000-sf at M Square Research Park in College Park, MD. Co-developed with Manekin and the University of Maryland, M Square is an eight-building project underway at the school. This tenant will be the sole occupant of a four-story building that is scheduled to deliver in Dec. 2009. Earlier this year, the university's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center signed onto 41,500 sf in the park's first four-story, 116,000-sf building.
In a research note, RW Baird said the two full building leases COPT has signed is a reflection of the REIT's franchise value. "Occupancy and stabilization dates on the prperties are now well ahead of prior estimates and are indicative of the strong demand for the company's high-quality product and locations," the research note says.
RW Baird identified the tenant in M Square Research Park as the US military's Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or IARPA.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
