HERNDON, VA-Liberty Property Trust scored a coup with the renewal and expansion of a tenant in this still-high vacancy office market. iDirect, a decade-long tenant at Presidents Park, has renewed and expanded its lease for a total of 99,710 square feet. The expansion increased the tenant's footprint by 20,550 square feet, while consolidating the majority of its leased space into one building.

iDirect is taking 88,183 square feet at Presidents Park I--in which they previously leased 35,753 square feet--while retaining 11,527 square feet in Presidents Park II, where they previously leased 43,407 square feet.

Mike Jones, vice president and city manager for Liberty in Northern Virginia, says the expansion comes as many tenants are reducing their space due to economic uncertainty, changes in the way they use office space, or both.

An internal fit-out will occur in the first half of 2014 and the move should be complete by the third quarter of next year. iDirect moved into Presidents Park II in 2004 with a lease of 24,192 square feet. This renewal represents the sixth one since moving to the complex.

Liberty Property Trust own and manages approximately two million square feet in Northern Virginia, including Presidents Park, WillowWood Plaza and Liberty Park. They are among the REIT's Mid-Atlantic holdings to survive its major sell off last month, when it announced it would be selling 97 mostly office properties and 159 acres of land for about $705 million.

The transaction "furthers our strategy to increase our portfolio allocation to industrial real estate and to concentrate our office portfolio in fewer focused markets," William P. Hankowsky, the REIT's chairman and CEO, said at the time of the announcement.