A defense contractor has signed a full-building lease with St. John Properties for 118,000 square feet of space within 1500 W. Nursery Road. The four-story Class A commercial office building, which was constructed on a speculative basis and delivered last fall, is designed to accommodate up to 700 employees.

The Department of Defense and St. John did not release the name of the new tenant. The contractor intends to move the first wave of professionals to the project contained within BWI Tech Park in July 2020.

“Our portfolio-wide philosophy of developing speculative commercial office product enabled us to immediately respond, and provide a timely solution to, this large requirement,” said Sean Doordan, senior vice president of leasing and acquisitions for St. John Properties. “Retailers and area businesses contained within the BWI submarket, as well as the regional economy, will be the beneficiary of the high-paying, technical jobs housed in this building.”