Renewals All the Rage?

Amid all the speculation (and speculative building) of law firms bolting for new, ultra-efficient buildings, some of the bigger deals to go down have actually been renewals. CBRE's Scott Frankel (middle, with Clark Enterprises' Larry Nussdorf and Cassidy Turley's Joe Stettinius) just repped owner Brookfield in the 101k SF renewal of O'Melveny & Myers at 1625 Eye St. He says the ability for the tenant to restack its footprint (by taking previously vacant space on 1625 Eye's top floor) as well as a solid amenity package—including hotspot BLT on the ground floor—convinced the tenant to stay. Scott and colleagues Joe Coleman, Mark Klug, and DJ Callahan repped Brookfield, while JLL's Greg McCavera and Cushman & Wakefield's Jeff Welch repped O'Melveny & Myers.

Hines has also just scored a renewal with one of the largest law firms in the city, announcing yesterday the long-rumored renewal of Hogan Lovells for 385k SF at Columbia Square. Hogan says it will completely renovate its space at the 600k SF building, which it's occupied since it delivered in 1987. Savills Studley's Rick Rome and Alexandra deVilliers repped Hogan.

And not far from Columbia Square, White & Case has made a pact to stay at Jamestown's One Metro Center, in a deal brokered by CBRE's Randy Harrell (right, with Axent Realty's Steve Fischer) and colleagues Kevin Howard, Joe Coleman, and Melissa Byrd. Randy says that one of the reasons White & Case, like O'Melveny & Myers, chose to stick around (well ahead of its 2019 lease expiration) was the ability to reconfigure its layout to work more efficiently. It's also a big win for Jamestown, which bought the building last year; White & Case's expiring deal was the first lease rollover since the building delivered in 2003. JLL's Greg McCavera and colleague Tom Doughty repped the tenant.