2009 was a tough year for local, regional, national and global economies. March 2009 was the low point, with great uncertainty about financial systems and consumer behavior. Although the Downtown BID area and DC’s economies performed better than regional competitors and other large US cities, the year’s performance was significantly off from recent highs in many areas. However, there are several areas of strength in the Downtown economy, which is set to rebound with regional, national and
international economies and financial institutions.
Though the economic news in 2009 generally was negative, several areas of the Downtown economy had a very good year due to record hotel revenues, reduced office and hotel assessments, increased visitor attendance, federal government investment and an influx of new destination restaurants.