Correction appended

Renowned law firm Hunton & Williams is slated to occupy almost half of the commercial office space available in Square 54, a mixed-use real estate development project next to the GW Hospital.

Boston Properties, the real estate developer responsible for the leasing, managing and construction of the space, announced the lease last week. Hunton & Williams is the first company to publicly commit to the commercial office space.

The law firm will lease 190,000 square feet of the 450,000 total square feet of commercial office space, according to an article in the Washington Business Journal. A Hunton & Williams spokeswoman declined to comment to The Hatchet.

Alicia O’Neil, the University’s associate vice president for real estate, said the school is not directly involved in the negotiations that Boston Properties makes with companies.

“The deals that businesses make with Boston Properties with respect to Square 54 are independent from the University,” she said, adding, “From a University perspective, I think it is very exciting that they have started to have tenets for building.”

O’Neil said the corporate office space in Square 54, including Hunton & Williams, might be a prime location for student internships.

“Certainly the business community in D.C. has a number of opportunities for internships,” O’Neil said. “I would suspect that the types of businesses that would be located in Square 54 would be the types of businesses that would be able to offer those types of opportunities.”

The building, which is slated to open in early 2011, also includes 84,000 square feet for retail space and 333 apartments, O’Neil said. The total square footage of the entire project is about 840,000.

Boston Properties has a 60-year contract and ground lease with the University. It is unclear how long Hunton & Williams will lease its space at the Square 54 property.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: (October 23, 2008)

The Hatchet misspelled the name of the law firm as Huton & Williams. The law firm is Hunton & Williams.