WASHINGTON, DC-Norton Rose Fulbright US--referred to just Fulbright in the DC market--is taking 65,431 square feet at 799 Ninth St., NW, a 204,000-square foot office building owned by Brookfield Office Properties. Fulbright was represented by Greg McCavera, Elizabeth Cooper and Tom Doughty of Jones Lang LaSalle. Brookfield was represented in-house by David Bevirt, Melanie Stehmer-Townsend and Cy Kouhestani. The lease term is for 15 years.

The building, located in the East End's Penn Quarter, next to CityCenterDC, is a LEED EB O&M Gold building and undergoing major renovations.

The transaction cannot be said to be a return of law firm leasing in the DC market; after all the firm is vacating another building to move to this one. However, the lease does underline the growing activity in the DC market.

The total vacancy rate in the East End declined slightly in the fourth quarter, from 11.5% to 11.3%, Scott Homa, JLL's Research Director tells GlobeSt.com. The submarket recorded 71,216 square feet of positive net absorption during the quarter.

More broadly across Washington, DC, the vacancy rate increased during the fourth quarter, from 11.8% to 12.3%, largely the result of two vacant buildings delivering in NoMa totaling 640,000 square feet, he says.

"Tenant demand in the core of Washington, DC is picking up momentum," Homa says. "Although most transactions are being driven by lease expirations, rather than organic growth, the reshuffling of the tenant base into new or more efficient buildings is driving activity" he said – such as recently renovated buildings in the center of the city like 799 Ninth St.