There are 146 development projects and more than 25 million square feet of residential and commercial space under construction in the District, and the region’s growing job market will support billions more in investment in the coming years, said developers Tuesday.
“This is where the jobs are,” said Malcolm Van de Riet, a regional development manager with JPI. The Irving, Texas-based development firm has multiple projects under construction in the District, including several mixed-used projects around the forthcoming baseball stadium. “There are so many jobs here and still a shortage of housing. Those two dynamics really make it the placeto be.”
JPI was one of more than 65 developers and real estate industry firms that gathered at the Washington Convention Center for the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership’s annual meeting and development showcase. The focus of the event was the District’s unprecedented development over the last five years.
Since 2001, more than $15 billion in projects have been completed within the city limits, more than $7.5 billion more are under construction and nearly $16 billion in development projects are set to break ground in the near future. About 9,600 residential units and more than 10 million square feet of office space are being built, and 43 construction cranes now rake the Washington skyline.
The reason Washington has become so hot, said developers, is the region’s seemingly untouchable job market. The Washington area added nearly 360,000 jobs — more than anywhere else in the country — between 2000 and 2005, according to figures from the George Mason University for Regional Analysis, and that trend is expected to continue. Those numbers have real estate developers chomping at the bit.
“There’s really a demand here,” said Marisa Leshinsky, a business development associate with RTKL, a national development firm with projects in D.C. and Baltimore. Developers “really feel confident that if they build it people will come.”
