CapitalSource snaps up 160,000 square feet in Chevy Chase tower

by Sonny Goldreich
Business Gazette, Gaithersburg, MD

Special to The Gazette -- CapitalSource didn't make much news when it moved in 2001 into newheadquarters in Chevy Chase, but now it plans to relocate around the corner, where it will take up more than half the space when a new office tower opens in Wisconsin Place in 2008.

''They needed more space," said Anne Dumont, a leasing agent for Boston Properties, which is part of the development team for the mixed-use complex that incorporates the old Hecht's site on Wisconsin Avenue. ''It's a 160,000-square-foot lease in a 295,000-square-foot building."

The move is a big step up for CapitalSource, a commercial lending firm that occupies about 65,000 square feet spread out over four floors in the Chase Tower at 4445 Willard Ave. The publicly traded company originally signed a lease for 16,799 square feet, but it added space three times over the next four years, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The CapitalSource lease provides a much-needed anchor tenant for the Wisconsin Place office building, which is part of a 1.1-million-square-foot mixed-use complex developed by a partnership between Boston Properties, New England Development of Newton, Mass., and Archstone-Smith of Englewood, Calif. The complex sits at the coveted intersection of Wisconsin and Western avenues, on the Washington, D.C., line.

The developers are constructing the office building directly atop the Friendship Heights Metro station. The project will also consist of about 305,000 square feet of retail space, anchored by Whole Foods Market and a Bloomingdale's department store; a 432-unit apartment complex; a 20,500-square-foot community center; and a four-level, underground parking garage.