BETHESDA, MD-B.F. Saul Co. has secured 12 new leases, for a total of 114,000 square feet, in a building that was virtually empty in Bethesda. The building, Garden Plaza, is 7700 Old Georgetown Rd., an eight-story 157,000 square foot project. The new leases followed an extensive renovation that the REIT implemented when its anchor tenant, which occupied some 98% of the building, moved out and into another B.F. Saul asset.

CBRE Senior Vice President David Machlin helped secure the new tenants. They are: Truven Health Analytics, Bocarsly Emden Cowan Esmail & Arndt, LLP The Cadmus Group, Long & Foster Real Estate, Sage Title Group, Managed Care Advisors, Wellness Corporate Solutions, Brivo Systems, GetWellNetwork, AFS Financial Group, Major League Soccer Players Union and infosnap.

The leases have been inked over the last six to eight months since the renovations delivered, Machlin tells GlobeSt.com. Asking rates in the building, which still has about 56,000 square feet of available space, are in the mid to low $40s per square foot, full service, he adds. It was the renovation – a $13 million or so project – that turned the trick for the building, Machlin says. In general leasing in the Bethesda submarket has been flat. However "the renovation turned this into a class A, first class building with the highest quality building materials." It also resulted in a LEED Gold certification, he adds. "In suburban Maryland the lease market is relatively flat but tenants are attracted to class A buildings that are fully modernized and located in an amenity-rich environment."