Did the State Department not get the memo about freezing the footprint? Its 54k SF deal at Blake Real Estate's 1800 G St, which Blake announced earlier this week, is an anomaly: one of the bigger new deals in a world where few big deals, let alone government ones, are going down. Blake's Steve Lustgarten (right, who was the in-house landlord rep along with colleagues Neil Simon, Owen Billman, and Steve Solomon) tells us the deal doesn't necessarily signal an uptick in government demand, and that most new public sector deals will continue to be consolidations or tenants taking less space.

The State Department deal puts 1800 G at full occupancy—other tenants include the World Bank and various government agencies. Steve tells us the tenant was attracted to the 600k SF building's large floor plates and proximity to the White House. (Though it seems you can get much closer to the White House simply by hopping the fence.)