Skanska Lands 2-Floor Office Tenant At 99 M Spec Office Building

Skanska's decision to build a spec office project in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood appears to be paying off, with the developer signing its third pre-lease. 

IAM National Pension Fund signed on for 44K SF at 99 M St. SE, the trophy office building Skanska is developing one block north of Nationals Park. CBRE's Manny Fitzgerald represented the tenant, which is relocating from 1300 Connecticut Ave. NW. 

The deal, first made public in CBRE's Q1 office market report, comes after Skanska signed its first two tenants at the building in August. Pyxera Global pre-leased 17K SF on the fourth floor and Credit Union National Association took 22K SF on the second floor. Those tenants also moved from D.C.'s more traditional office submarkets, the Central Business District and East End.

"The types of tenants you're seeing move down to the ballpark area, from large nonprofits to users moving from core traditional D.C. locations to an up-and-coming market, really speaks highly to the location and the types of buildings being built down there," CBRE senior research analyst Tim Whitebread said.  

It appears IAM National Pension Fund will take two floors, given the building's 22K SF floor plates. Skanska has not officially announced the lease or said which floors the tenant will take. Lincoln Property Co. is leasing the building for the developer. 

Skanska broke ground on the 11-story, 234K SF office building in summer 2015 and expects to deliver it this spring. It has also signed two restaurants, Circa and Open Road. Skanska Executive Vice President Mark Carroll, speaking at a Bisnow event in July just before this string of deals, said the pace of interest in the building had been increasing noticeably. The developer now has roughly 35% of the building's office space pre-leased.