WASHINGTON, DC-Vornado/Charles E. Smith has inked an 85,000-square-foot lease with the United Nations Foundation at 1750 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. The UN is consolidating space it maintains at two separate locations, equaling about 50,000 square feet.

CBRE’s Tina Weaver represented the UN Foundation. Brendan Owen, chief leasing officer for Vornado, represented the landlord. The UN Foundation is working with Urban Realty Advisors for project management services and Studios Architects for architectural services.

Vornado secured the UN as a tenant by agreeing to assume its current lease obligations, which are running for another three years, Weaver tells GlobeSt.com. “The market is soft, so they were able to walk away from two lease obligations,” she explains.

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Weaver adds that Vornado has been aggressive in trying to secure credit tenants for its DC-area portfolio. In this current environment, she says, “landlords are reaching for opportunities to get credit worthy tenants in their buildings.”

The office building will have approximately 50,000 square feet left of vacancy. The asking rate is $47 per square foot.

Leasing activity, of course, has been depressed across the DC region, with many tenants staying put at least until  the presidential election, according to a recent Jones Lang LaSalle report. Across the entire Washington region there was negative net absorption of 359,199 square feet in the second quarter, it found, raising total occupancy loss so far in 2012 to over more than1.3 million feet. JLL also reports that net effective rents were down just over 7% for the first five months of this year.