Fri. April 20, 2018
The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) on Friday released its 2017 State of Downtown Report, which includes comprehensive data, statistics and analysis that showed many economic sectors setting performance records for DowntownDC over the past year.
“The DowntownDC BID, private sector and District government are making significant investments which continue fueling the engine,” BID President & CEO Neil Albert wrote in the report. The report, which was themed “Fueling the Engine” was released Friday morning at the State of Downtown Forum where the city’s chances of landing Amazon HQ2 was a major topic of discussion.
“I give us less than a 30 percent chance… the region, not just Washington specifically,” the District’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Brian Kenner said during the forum of the odds Amazon would choose the D.C. region for its headquarters. But Kenner stressed that the push for Amazon doesn’t preclude the city from seeking out other technology innovators.
[Click here to watch the April 20 State of Downtown Forum.]
Speakers expressed their support for the regional agreement to provide $500 million per year in dedicated funding for Metrorail, which remains the engine for DowntownDC commuters, 89,732 of which are served each weekday by one of DowntownDC’s seven Metrorail stations.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia in closing remarks Friday announced that 14 electric DC Circulator buses would join the Circulator fleet, making the District’s number of electric buses the largest on the east coast. “We’ve been investing in technology to make our city smarter and greener,” Bowser said.
Additional speakers Friday included Scott Anderson, Regional Administrator for the National Capital Region of the U.S. General Services Administration, theatreWashington President and CEO Amy Austin, the District’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt and Keith Sellars, President and CEO of the Washington DC Economic Partnership.
2017 State of Downtown Report Quick Facts: The DowntownDC BID’s office market remained mixed but set a regional sales record for the sales price of $1,273 per square foot at 900 G Street. A total of $2.1 billion was invested in DowntownDC construction in 2017, the highest total in ten years. DowntownDC helps the District maintain its 24 percent share of regional employment. DowntownDC Class A asking rents of $64 per SF were the third highest in the nation. DowntownDC museums drew more than 4 million attendees and theatre-goers totaled 811,628. The Capital One Arena drew 2.5 million attendees for 231 events.
http://www.downtowndc.org/sod