WilmerHale Downsizes to 200 KSF in Downtown Boston

International law firm WilmerHale has renewed and shrunk its longstanding lease at Starwood REIT’s 60 State St., an office tower in downtown Boston. The tenant will now occupy 201,018 square feet at the property, across eight floors—namely, 25 through 32. Savills arranged the deal on behalf of the tenant.

Headquartered in both Boston and Washington, D.C., WilmerHale has been a tenant at 60 State St. since the property was completed, in 1977. The current 13-year lease marks a reduction in size from WilmerHale’s previous 248,000-square-foot commitment at the tower, The Boston Globe reported.

The office building has been under Starwood Capital Group’s ownership since the company bought it in 2020 from Oxford Properties Group, using a $435 million acquisition loan originated by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., according to Yardi Matrix information. The asset traded for $614 million, or $673 per square foot.

A LEED Platinum-certified tower

Developed by Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and designed Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 912,000-square-foot 60 State St. features average floorplates of 25,274 square feet across 38 stories. The LEED Platinum-certified office tower is currently undergoing renovations that will result in a new lobby, café, fitness center and upgraded common areas. Apart from WilmerHale, the roster includes Preti Strategies, Janney, Tsoi Kobus Design, Tritower Financial Group, Longwood, Berkshire Bank, BlackRock and Lourie & Cutler. The Highrise was 97 percent leased at the time of the deal.

The property is located across the street from Faneuil Hall, as well as near City Hall Plaza and Interstate 95—which connects the office building to several Boston development projects currently underway.

Savills Brokerage Chair Roy Hirshland, Vice Chairmen Thomas Fulcher and Arthur Greenberg, Executive Managing Director Ron Perry, and Corporate Managing Director Matthew Perry represented WilmerHale in the lease renewal, while JLL Capital Markets Managing Directors Dan Cavanaugh, Ryan Enright, and Senior Managing Director Patrick Nugent worked on behalf of the ownership.

August saw Boston’s average office listing rate clock in at $52.83 per square foot, up 11.2 percent year-over-year and ranking fourth nationwide, trailing behind Manhattan ($67.98), San Francisco ($64.15) and Miami ($55.77), the latest Yardi Matrix office report shows. Meanwhile, the metro’s average vacancy rate during the same month also rose to 16 percent, up 10 basis points compared to August 2024, yet lower than the national figure of 18.7 percent.