Office Conversions Gain Momentum as Other Uses Have Greater Appeal

WASHINGTON, DC—If PRP LLC’s plans to convert its newly-acquired office building at 2501 M St., NW into a luxury residential condo sound vaguely familiar that is because the transaction is part of a growing trend in the area. Increasingly, office buildings are being acquired with an eye to being redeveloped into another use, typically apartments or condos but occasionally schools or hotels. There have been 19 such acquisitions in DC and surrounding environs in the last few years, with a few outliers having occurred in 2004 and 2005, according to JLL who tallied up the transactions.

“Developers are acquiring buildings that are functionality obsolete or in functionally obsolete locations to reposition into new uses,” JLL Research Director Scott Homa tells GlobeSt.com.