BETHESDA, MD-The National Institutes of Health has renewed 355,950 square feet at 6701 & 6707 Democracy Plaza here. The negotiated rate is $31.75 per square foot, coming in under the prospectus rate of $35 per foot, according to Jones Lang LaSalle brokers Howard Traul and Chris Roth. “It was a competitive procurement, however there was no existing space in Bethesda that could meet the requirement,” Traul tells GlobeSt.com.

The GSA’s acquisition team was led by Jim Phelan and Glenn Harvey. JLL’s Joe Judge and Traul represented the government. Andrew Abramson represented the building owner Vornado/Charles E. Smith.

This lease was among those approved by Congress earlier this year. The speed at which the lease moved forward once the approval was in place is telling, Roth adds. “GSA and local brokers can act very quickly once the direction and intent of Congress is clear.”

This lease follows another recently inked by GSA on behalf of NIH: the agency is also taking 75,056 square feet at 9800 Medical Center Dr. in Rockville, MD. That asset is a four-building complex located in the 290-acre Shady Grove Life Sciences Center, a research park developed for the biotechnology and health care industries. JLL did not return a call in time for publication.

“These leases show the commitment NIH has for the Bethesda/Rockville area,” Roth says. Bethesda has a 7.9% total vacancy rate, according to JLL figures, and Bethesda Rock Spring--where the NIH leases are located—has a 25.6% vacancy.