Microsoft Continues Northern Virginia Expansion With 180K SF Rosslyn Lease
Tech giant Microsoft is growing rapidly in Northern Virginia, signing a deal for a major new office in Rosslyn less than a year after a big Reston deal.
Microsoft President of U.S. Regulated Industries Toni Townes-Whitley announced in a LinkedIn post Tuesday that the company signed a lease at 1300 Wilson Blvd. for its regional sales headquarters.
The company leased more than 180K SF, bringing the Tishman Speyer-owned building to 93% leased, a source familiar with the deal told Bisnow. The Washington Business Journal first reported the size of the lease.
The company plans to open the space to employees by mid-2022, Townes-Whitley said in the post. She said the space will feature a Microsoft Technology Center, employee workspaces and customer facilities.
"While we are all navigating the remote work environment, securing this space is an exciting step that maps to current needs around our growing presence, and ensures that when we transition back to the workplace, we can do so as seamlessly as possible," Townes-Whitley wrote in the post.
The 15-story, 360K SF office building sits at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and Fort Myer Drive, one block south of the Rosslyn Metro station. It previously housed a Ruby Tuesday in the ground-floor space, and the Arlington County Board voted last month to allow the retail space to be used for office, ARLnow reported.
Tishman Speyer also posted about the deal on LinkedIn, with regional head Jeff Chod saying it is an "exciting opportunity to collaborate with a company as innovative as Microsoft on its new workplace." A Tishman Speyer spokesperson declined to comment further.
The Rosslyn deal comes after Microsoft signed a 400K SF lease in May at Reston Town Center, the largest office lease in the region last year. The leases both represent expansions for the company in Northern Virginia, as Microsoft last year also renewed its 186K SF lease at 12012 Sunset Hills Road in Reston.
The tech company's growth comes at a much-needed time for the Northern Virginia office market, which has struggled during the coronavirus pandemic. Northern Virginia recorded negative net absorption of 1.2M SF last year, according to Newmark's Q4 market report, including 869K SF of occupancy loss in the fourth quarter alone.
