Washington Post Signs Lease to Move to Franklin Square

After looking for a new home for more than a year, the Washington Post has finally settled on new digs just three blocks from its longtime headquarters, signing a lease at 1301 K Street, Northwest, the newspaper announced Friday.

The Post hinted at the deal on April 1, when it signed a letter of intent with Hines, which owns the 626,000-square foot, nearly block-long building overlooking Franklin Square. Posties don’t need to pack up their desks at 1150 15th Street just yet; the paper won’t be moving until 2016, Post spokeswoman Kris Coratti writes in an email.

After more than 60 years at 15th and L, the Post announced its intention to move in February 2013, six months before Amazon boss Jeff Bezos bought the paper. Although the Post’s search included on-the-rise neighborhoods like NoMa, Eckington, and Navy Yard, Posties will be relieved to know their commutes and favorite lunch spots don’t have to change.

Bezos’s purchase did not include the Post’s current headquarters, which the Graham family sold, along with two adjacent buildings, to Carr Properties for $159 million in November. Graham Holdings is also leaving the neighborhood, and will land in Rosslyn in August.

Coratti says the Post is not disclosing how much of the new building it will occupy, but it will likely be much less than the 340,000 square feet that the Post’s current headquarters comprises. (Cleaved from the Graham family’s other holdings, Bezos’s Post is a stand-alone enterprise.) Upon launching the real-estate search last year, Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said the paper would seek space that’s “a bit lighter.”

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.