WASHINGTON, DC-The National League for Nursing has inked a lease at The Watergate office building for 18,500 square feet. The association is relocating its headquarters to the District from New York City in mid-2013 and opted to take space in the city's iconic office building.

The 200,000-square foot building is now 60% leased, with 90,000 square feet available, Matt Pacinelli, senior vice president of Leasing at Penzance tells GlobeSt.com. Penzance acquired the office building in late 2011. Penzance also owns about 65,000 square feet of retail in the Watergate complex. Of the office space available, 55,000 square feet is contiguous space on the top three floors with asking rates in the mid to upper $40s per square foot.

Since the acquisition, Penzance has inked about 67,000 square feet of leases, Pacinelli says. "Right now we are focused on the top three floors. There is interest from larger tenants but still a lot of competition in the market right now." Indeed, one of the 11-story building's selling points is that it is one of the few office buildings that can offer large blocks of contiguous space.

Kurt Richter of Cassidy Turley represented the National League of Nursing and Herb Mansinne and Carroll Cavanagh of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Penzance in the transaction.