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Foulger-Pratt lands first new tenant for Discovery HQ remake

POSTED

05.01.19

Children’s National Health System has reached a deal to take four floors in Inventa Towers, the former Silver Spring headquarters of Discovery Inc., as part of a larger consolidation of its D.C.-area footprint.

The District-based health care provider signed a 15-year lease with Foulger-Pratt for 140,000 square feet at One Discovery Place, about a month after Discovery (DISCA: NASDAQ) moved out for its new home in New York. Children’s, which has retained Gensler as its interior architect, plans to move in 2020.

A JLL (NYSE: JLL) team led by Matt Coursen represented Children’s in the lease. A JLL team including Andrew Masters and Amanda Davis represented the landlord.

The deal will enable Children’s to bring staff in from multiple locations including 801 Roeder Road, also in Silver Spring, where its fundraising arm, The Children’s Hospital Foundation, is based. A Children’s spokeswoman said the lease is part of the health system’s overall facilities plan to create the capacity for new programs that support its mission.

“The new location will allow us to bring together a number of administrative teams currently housed at multiple other office locations,” the spokeswoman said. “This will create operating efficiencies and facilitate beneficial interaction among the teams that will be located there.”

The deal is an important first step for Foulger-Pratt and partner Cerberus Capital Management as they seek to reposition the 550,000-square-foot, 10-story building for multiple tenants. The pair plans to launch a $15 million renovation this summer to include a range of interior and exterior improvements.

Children’s will be leasing floors three through six, leaving Foulger-Pratt to market prime space on the building’s upper floors to other prospects. Foulger-Pratt Managing Director Michael Abrams previously told the Washington Business Journal the firm has received interest from “a pretty active roster of tenant prospects, and interestingly, many are in the health and education areas.”