Washington, D.C.
As the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. is one of the best known cities of the world. Falcon Real Estate established an office in Washington since many of our clients had investments there or were interested in investing there. As a result, Falcon’s Washington office has both asset management and property acquisition responsibilities.
The Washington metropolitan area is the fourth largest in the United States with a population of 7.3 million people, immediately behind the Chicago metropolitan area. During the 1990’s the Washington area’s population grew at a surprisingly rapid rate of over 13%, surpassing most of the major cities of California, but trailing Texas and Florida.
In recent years the Washington metropolitan area has shown particular growth in surrounding sections of Virginia and Maryland. The area along the Toll Road running to Dulles International Airport has had a tremendous amount of new development, as have the areas across the Potomac immediately adjacent to the city. Development within Washington itself is somewhat limited by the fact that no building can be built higher than the U.S. Capital, effectively limiting buildings to about twelve stories.
With over 255 million square feet of office space, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is the second largest office market in the United States, with only New York City being larger. The driving force behind the Washington office market is the Federal Government. This results in the tenant base being composed primarily of Government agencies, professional organizations, law firms and many foreign embassies and other international entities that require close proximity to the Government. This also provides a high level of stability to the office market, making it one of the more attractive investment markets in the country.