Skanska USA's spec construction bet at 2112 Pennsylvania Ave NW just paid off in a big way.

The development is a 250k SF, 11-story trophy office building, and law firm Cleary Gottlieb just signed a 115k SF lease for the top five floors. The announcement comes just three months after Skanska declared it's going spec again, and speaks volumes about where the trophy office market in DC stands.

The building is expected to deliver in the beginning of 2018, and Cleary Gottlieb, moving just steps away from its current offices at 2000 Pennsylvania Ave, plans to take occupancy in 2019.

The lease signing happening so early in the process "is a vote of confidence for the project and allows us to truly customize the space to better meet their current and future needs," Skanska EVP Rob Ward says.

Skanska announced it was building spec in October a few months after making the same decision for its 99 M St. That building is still without an office tenant, although it will have a 5k SF Circa restaurant on the ground floor. 2112 Penn's 10k SF of retail space is still available.

Cushman & Wakefield's Brian Raher repped Skanska, and Cleary Gottlieb was repped by NGKF's Moshe Sukenik and Aaron Katz. While spec office development, particularly outside the CBD, has been nearly nonexistent outside of Rob's projects, an anchor lease of this size might make some around town start to change their minds.