Akridge Delivers DC Office Project for WeWork

1701 Rhode Island

Akridge has just delivered 1701 Rhode Island to the Washington, D.C., office inventory, with WeWork as the sole tenant of the 104,000-square-foot boutique property. A redevelopment project, 1701 Rhode Island cost approximately $90 million to complete, according to a report by the Washington Economic Development Partnership.

Standing seven stories in Washington, D.C.,’s central business district, 1701 Rhode Island is the product of Akridge’s adaptive reuse of the former YMCA National Capital building, which the company acquired in partnership with Alcion Ventures LP in 2016. The partners tapped Hickok Cole Architects to design the redevelopment project, and with Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. aboard as general contractor, proceeded with a transformation that yielded a premier office destination that includes a naturally lit fitness facility, rooftop terrace and penthouse roofdecks.

JLL’s Zach Boroson, Andy O’Brien and Greg Lubar worked on behalf of WeWork in the lease of the freestanding, copper-clad tower. Akridge relied on an internal representation team consisting of Wil Pace, McKay Elliott, Ben Meisel and Tim McCarty.

Riding the coworking wave

The Washington, D.C., office market recorded 852,000 square feet of positive net absorption in 2018, a seven-year high, and the coworking sector played a large role in the take up of space, according to a report by JLL. “Almost half of leases greater than 10,000 square feet signed in 2018 exhibited growth and the largest driver of growth stemmed from coworking providers, which leased more than 600,000 square feet of office space,” per the report.

WeWork was quite active in the District in 2018. In the fourth quarter alone, the company preleased approximately 70,000 square feet at 700 K St. NW and signed on for more than 100,000 square feet at 1333 New Hampshire Ave. NW, where it also acquired an ownership interest.

Image courtesy of Akridge