Washington Post signs lease for new headquarters
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Version 0 of 1. After a more than year-long search, The Washington Post finalized a lease for its new headquarters at 1301 K St. NW, the company announced Friday. Located at 1301 K St. NW and called One Franklin Square, the building is about three blocks from the offices at 15th and L streets NW that the newspaper has called home since 1950.
The selection of the building followed a real estate hunt that began in February of last year before Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, acquired the newspaper in October. The newspaper plans to move in 2016. It relied on two firms, Studley and JM Zell Partners, as real estate advisers. “After conducting an extensive search led by JM Zell, we found a modern, light-filled building that best meets all of our objectives. The space encourages collaboration and efficiency, which will ultimately help us better serve our customers,” said Katharine Weymouth, publisher and chief executive of the Post, in a statement. “We are thankful to JM Zell for all of their hard work, and are happy to have found another home in the District. We look forward to being here for years to come.” The Post benefited from a flat downtown office market. With vacancy driven up by government cutbacks and private sector downsizing, large office tenants are in high demand. More than a dozen property owners proposed building the newspaper a new headquarters in the area known as NoMa, north of Massachusetts Avenue, or in the area near Nationals Park, but The Post faced a deadline in fall 2016 to relocate under terms with the owner of its current building, Carr Properties. With the decision to lease space in an existing building downtown, the Post remains near multiple Metro lines and will still be only a few blocks from the White House. But the paper will also no longer have a building of its own. It will occupy the majority of the west tower of One Franklin Square and will have exterior signage, Weymouth said, but the remainder of the 625,644-square-foot property will be occupied by other tenants including the law firm Reed Smith. The Post had been looking for as much as 300,000 square feet, but Weymouth, through a spokeswoman, declined to say how much the paper had decided to lease. Chuck Watters, senior managing director at Hines, the Post’s future landlord, said in a statement that the building enjoys “a prominent presence” in downtown Washington. “Adding one of the most prestigious news organizations in the world to the tenant roster is truly an honor for our ownership group,” he said. Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz |