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Washington, D.C.’s National Press Building is about to become a little more crowded, but not with journalists digging for their next scoop.
Atlanta-based Kellen Company, a management services and communications firm, has signed a new lease to extend and effectively double its footprint at the property to 32,000 square feet.
Kellen has held office space in D.C. since the 1990s, but the company has now opted to move its headquarters from the Towers at Wildwood Plaza on the outskirts of Atlanta, which it is vacating, to the new space, the Washington Business Journal first reported.
Kellen received a $150,000 grant from D.C.’s $10 million Vitality Fund, which offers financial incentives to companies looking to expand operations and create new jobs in the District.
Two other companies to take advantage of the Vitality Fund are tax services firm Ryan and consulting firm Acumen. Both received Vitality Fund grants along with Kellen, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Wednesday, though the cash amount of those grants weren’t immediately available.
Founded in 1964, Kellen is a multinational consulting firm that employs roughly 250 people across the globe, per the Journal. Representatives from Kellen could not immediately be reached for comment regarding the new lease, the specific terms of which were not immediately available.
The 14-story National Press Building, located at 529 14th Street NW, just two blocks east of the White House, was built in the mid-1920s and has long housed the National Press Club, a professional and social organization for journalists. Managed by Cannon Hill Capital Partners and renovated in 2018, the building features 560,000 square feet of rentable office and retail space, which houses tenants such as Cuts by Hugo and SPIN Washington DC, a pingpong sports bar and social club.
Kellen’s expansion at the nation’s capital is an unusual move these days, as Downtown D.C. has struggled to attract tenants in the post-COVID world. Most of the bright spots for the District lately have been renewals — The Washington Post in February renewed its 300,000-square-foot lease at One Franklin Square, the tallest office building in the District, with landlord Hines extending The Post’s $250 million loan for five years.
Yet, it’s one step forward, two steps back. In its proposed budget for the next fiscal year, announced earlier this week, the Biden administration earmarked $425 million for the General Services Administration to continue downsizing the federal government’s real estate footprint over the coming years.
Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.
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