Government Leases Keep Getting Larger

 WASHINGTON, DC-The GSA has out a pre-solicitation notice looking to lease between 455,000 and 508,038 square feet in the Foggy Bottom submarket of the District with a move in date of July 2012.  It wants a minimum of 380,000-square feet in a single building in a lease term for up to 15 years at an average asking rate of $42.08 per square foot.

The State Department request is a significant deal for its – rivaled by the 500,000-plus square feet the Justice Department has taken at Constitution Square in NoMa. More typical transactions are similar to the US Parole Commission’s recent lease for 36,438 square feet at Sentinel Square I/90 K St. in NoMa.  The government agency will occupy a portion of the first floor and the entire third floor in the 412,661-square-foot, 12-story building.

However, the DC real estate community is readying – happily – for more of these large sized transactions. The government has a huge pipeline of space needs that will be coming to market over the next few years. Some of these leases will be driven by new legislation passed, such as the health insurance reform bill and the financial overhaul, which alone stands to create hundreds of new regulations.