Source: JLL Mid-Atlantic Research

WASHINGTON, DC—Proposed Fiscal Year 2020 Department of Defense spending would provide a major economic boost to the Northern Virginia economy, according to a report released by commercial brokerage firm JLL, including more than 2 million square feet of office occupancy growth in the Toll Road to Crystal City corridor.

In fact, the FY 2020 budget would allocate $718 billion for the Department of Defense, marking the fifth consecutive year-over-year increase and breaking the previous all-time record Defense budget allocation of $691 billion set in FY 2010, according to the report authored by Vikrant Ghate, research analyst with JLL Mid-Atlantic Research.

The report notes that The Budget Control Act, beginning in FY 2011, ushered in an era of spending caps and sequestration, driving occupancy losses totaling 5.1 million square feet from 2011 to 2016, forcing contractors to cut headcount and shrink/consolidate their real estate footprints.