Offices have become the weakest link in commercial real estate, and the sector’s distress is rippling out from individual investors to the economy at large. But Arlington, Virginia, isn’t going to let 9 million square feet of prime real estate simply collect dust.
The otherwise thriving, mixed-use suburb of Washington, D.C., is enacting zoning changes that will allow vacant offices to be occupied by breweries, makerspaces, arcades, laboratories, vertical farms and more.
Just like everywhere else, Arlington has an empty offices problem — except worse. Offices in the Washington, D.C., submarket have long been oversupplied and remote work is only widening the gap, according to Marc McCauley, Arlington’s director of real estate development.
At 22% and rising, Arlington’s vacancy rate is nearly 1,000 basis points more dire than the already dismal national average. Remote work has…
