The office sector may be sluggish in general, but high-end offerings keep on coming—and seem popular. Once the site where presidential candidate Herman Cain held court as head of the National Restaurant Association, 1200 17th St has officially delivered. Last night, we stopped by to see what owners Akridge and Mitsui Fudosan are calling "a jewel box."
On the building's rooftop, we snapped (top) Akridge's Wil Pace and Ben Meisel and (bottom) Akridge's Mike Gill and Greg Tomasso flanking Mitsui Fudosan America's Keith Purcell taking a break from a party downstairs showing off the building to 250 brokers. If the event had been scheduled a few days ago, it might not have taken place—the certificate of occupancy just arrived Monday. Law firm Pillsbury will move into 60% of the building by the end of the year, but Keith tells us the partners likely would have gone ahead on spec had a commitment not been secured before breaking ground.
There were many wrinkles in getting the building off the ground. Akridge and original partner First Potomac bought the previous building in 2011 for $40M. Mitsui bought out First Potomac's stake in late 2012, the building was demo-ed, and ground was broken. But last spring, a water main break on 17th Street caused a massive flood of the entire job site, which Akridge prez Matt Klein says turned it into "the biggest swimming pool in the Mid-Atlantic." Thankfully, the leak didn't cause any major damage.
The building's on track for LEED Platinum, says Ben (who joked that it was the first time he'd been through the building without a hard hat). There's an additional 45k SF of unencumbered space available.
Ben and Greg, in charge of leasing 1200 17th, were mum on groups that have been through the available space. (Here's a look at the column-free setup. Perfect for any tenant, unless you're the US Parthenon Lovers Association or a Greek yogurt company.)
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