Demetri Koutrouvelis, Laurent Myers, Adam Singer and Ryan Nunesof Studley represented Bailey Law Group in the lease transaction.Richard Tonner and Kimball Wood of Cassidy and Pinkard representedthe building's landlord Broadway Partners.

The Bailey Law Group had about nine years left on its lease whenanother law firm tenant on the floor decided to move out, Myerstells GlobeSt.com. The firm decided to take the additional spacefor "defensive" purposes, based on its projections for futuregrowth. Rental rates had jumped significantly since the firm signedits first lease in the building a few years ago. However a tenantimprovement allowance and rent abatement measures helped to offsetthe higher rental rate, Myers says. Asking rate for the space wasin the mid to upper $50s per sf, net of electric.

DC's CBD has traditionally had very low vacancy rates, hoveringin the low 5% range. For the first seven months of 2008, however,the vacancy rate has fluctuated from 6.5% at the beginning of theyear, to the current 6.1%, according to GVA Advantis' Q2 2008statistics for the submarket. One of the reasons for the slightimprovement the slight decrease in second quarter vacancy can beattributed to a pickup in leasing activity among tenants under20,000 sf, GVA Advantis says in its report.