UBS Inks Lease at Skanska’s Upcoming 17xM Tower in DC
By Chava Gourarie April 12, 2023 3:30 pm
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It appears that the much-hyped flight to quality is still a thing — for now.
Investment bank UBS has signed a 12-year lease for 23,644 square feet at Skanska’s 17xM office tower in Downtown Washington, D.C., which is currently under construction.
This is the second lease at the property after law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher announced it would anchor the 11-story property at 1700 M Street NW, having signed a lease for 163,715 square feet back in 2021, Commercial Observer reported at the time.
Together the two leases bring the 334,000-square-foot property to 56 percent pre-leased.
Construction at the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed building topped out last month, and it is scheduled for completion in 2024, at which point UBS will relocate, moving from its current offices at 1501 K Street NW, according to Skanska. The project was estimated to cost $216 million when the company first broke ground in 2021.
Skanska signed a long-term ground lease with JBG Smith in 2019, which owns the 34,000-square-foot property to develop on the site.
Brian Raher at Cushman & Wakefield represented UBS, while CBRE’s Randy Harrell, Jill Goubeaux, Joe Coleman and Lara Nealon represented Skanska in the deal, and are marketing the available space in the property.
Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.