THE CHALLENGE: Population Services International (PSI) has made its home at 1120 19th Street, NW for many years. In 2005, they found themselves out of expansion options with four years left on their lease. The owner of the building offered them 20,300 square feet of expansion space, but was not flexible about the space – it was all or nothing, and PSI didn’t need all 20,300 square feet, yet. However, they wanted to secure the space in a way that allowed for future growth if and when they needed it.

THE SOLUTION: PSI approached West, Lane & Schlager (WLS) with their needs. We negotiated a restructured lease for the current space and expansion space with the building owner and secured a subtenant for the space PSI didn’t yet need, which was around 13,000 square feet. The lease included below-market rates and an improvement allowance to cover the cost of renovations for PSI and the subtenant

Two years later, West, Lane & Schlager presented a compelling case to the building owner including market data regarding down time of second generation space to accomplish economic goals. WLS assisted PSI in its successful purchase of their 108,000 square foot building, which gives them full control of their future growth within the building.