Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Because of height limits, urban decay, and crime from 1950-2000, the old/original downtown D.C. went from a dangerous blighted empty parking lot to an office ghetto through redevelopment.
The emergence of the new downtown DC to the east and south of the old one (NOMA, Mt. Vernon Triangle, Northwest One, Union Market, Capital Riverfront, Buzzard Point, The Wharf, Waterfront Station, SW Eco District) has been greatly covered in this thread. Redevelopment normally happens from the center and moves outward, however, in the case of downtown DC, it's happening from the outside inward.
The new downtown DC neighborhoods to the east and south of old downtown DC are absolutely booming with mixed-use office, residential, hotel, retail, and civic uses. Old downtown DC is starting to feel the heat now as companies flee to the new DC. I spoke about this about 5 years ago and now it's coming to pass. Residential conversions in downtown DC are upon us as the market shifts. This is what everyone has been waiting for:
-The increase in obsolete Class B and C office spaces is partly due to tenants trading up to Class A with less square footage, keeping their rents in check. Obsolete space is a problem, so the BID in 2016 “will be engaging its members in analyzing the potential for office to residential or hotel use.”
After the FBI moves, Pennsylvania Ave could be reborn
After the FBI moves, Pennsylvania Ave could be reborn - Greater Greater Washington
I think on a whole, the BID report was pretty good. Downtown continues to add workers even as the actual amount of office space declines. Hopefully, the older class B stuff gets converted over to residential/hotels and more "destination-type" ground floor retail gets added.
The two biggest challanges as I see them are: 1) Residential buildings yield less leasable space than office buildings-
You can offices without windows, but not apartments without windows, so you have to remove space to build a court yard. 2) People don't like to live in the middle of an office district- Vacent buildings in penn quarter/gallery place/west end/south dupont are primed for residential conversions, but I don't know how much demand there is for residential living when you get west of 12th and south of M street.
Taken together, I believe class A office buildings are still probably more profitable than all but the most high end apartments, particulary when you factor in stuff like apartment leasing turnover costs, ammenities upkeep and affordable housing set asides. I worry that many Class B owners will conclude that it is better to wait the cycle out and rebuild as a class A office building in a few years.
2) People don't like to live in the middle of an office district- Vacent buildings in penn quarter/gallery place/west end/south dupont are primed for residential conversions, but I don't know how much demand there is for residential living when you get west of 12th and south of M street.
Exactly. It's great that downtown is moving towards more mixed use. They desperately need to do this in the L'Enfant area. However, who wants to pay a premium price to live in the middle of a boring office area? Not me.
Exactly. It's great that downtown is moving towards more mixed use. They desperately need to do this in the L'Enfant area. However, who wants to pay a premium price to live in the middle of a boring office area? Not me.
City Center DC from the report:
Condo resales at over $1,000 per square foot.
Apartments at and over $4 per square foot.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
