"The District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virgina (DMV) region is emerging as a national test case for the future of office space. As cities across the country grapple with persistent office vacancies, D.C. is taking a bold approach: Instead of focusing solely on residential conversions, it is pioneering a broader strategy to convert offices to...anything. While the concept of office conversions isn't new, most efforts have been centered on residential use. D.C.'s strategy breaks that mold."
"In January 2025, the city launched the Central Washington Activation Projects Temporary Tax Abatement, better known as the Office to Anything program. This policy targets buildings that aren't suitable for housing conversion and opens the door to a wider range of uses. With this program, D.C. is positioning itself as a laboratory for alternative office conversions, from data centers to hospitality and mixed-use spaces."
The DMV region faces growing office vacancies driven by federal downsizing and expiring GSA leases. D.C. launched the Central Washington Activation Projects Temporary Tax Abatement (Office to Anything) in January 2025 to encourage conversion of buildings not suitable for housing into alternative uses. The program enables uses ranging from data centers to hospitality and mixed-use developments. The region contains one-fifth of federal workers and about 46 million square feet of government-leased office space. Since January 2025, 24 GSA leases were canceled, creating 1.9 million vacant square feet; another 9.98 million square feet could enter the market within a year.
Read at Fast Company
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