WASHINGTON, DC: GSA examines higher and better use for large blocks of space

The once bullet proof Washington, DC office market is still recovering from the federal government shutdown and sequestration of a few year ago. In the recent past the government occupied some 30% of the privately owned space, now it occupies  less than 10%. Additionally government contractors which occupy another huge chunk of DC space are doing short term leases because they cannot depend on once lucrative long term government contracts. That said, there is potentially new GSA demand to feed developers. We learned today in the Washington, DC REAL Professionals mastermind meeting from a high level IRR appraiser attending the meeting that the GSA has engaged him to do appraisals and feasibility studies designed to examine the values associated with tearing down functionally obsolescent buildings in southwest part of the district and replace them with better mixed use developments using private sector expertise at much higher financial values.