Downtown Washington, D.C., is seeing a record amount of empty office space, according to a report.
A study by real estate firms CBRE Group and JLL said nearly a quarter of all office space in Washington is empty, according to 7News, leading to a large number of vacancies and “For Lease” ads throughout the city. Between April and June, more than half a million square feet of office space lay empty in Washington, according to the report, a record high for the city.
A 2023 forecast by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office acknowledged an increase in empty office space and blamed the trend on the pandemic, and less than half of Washington office workers are working on-site compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to data from security firm Kastle.
“For the last two decades, Downtown has seen traditional office occupancy decrease and vacancy rates increase,” th …