Infill Projections for DC

DC Real Estate Summit 2012:  Infill Comes Out on Top

Over 250 gathered last week to discuss the real estate market in D.C. and the dominating trend was for urban infill.  Gil Neuman, Greysteel managing director says investor interest in metro-area retail has shifted from the powerful demographics of the 'burbs to the urban infill opportunities of the District.  This trend has been seen nationwide with incentives for developers to reuse land land and buildings.

Mixed use Residences at CityCenter in DC expected to be completed end of 2013, which will include 216 condominium homes. “In many areas, we are seeing more interest in urban infill locations than in remote exurbs, which is having a pronounced shift in neighborhood design elements,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “And regardless of city or suburban dwellers, people are asking more from their communities in terms of access to public transit, walkable areas and close proximity to job centers, retail options and open space.”         

Edens Mid-Atlantic leasing head Jessica Bruner says the answer is design. Highly competitive urban markets like DC force owners and retailers to develop creative layouts to encourage people to hang out with others once they're in, she says.  These “creative layouts” have also been referred to as creating a sense of place, and what creates them is a highly sought after design element.    A sense of place is a social phenomenon that exists independently of any one individual's perceptions or experiences, yet is dependent on human engagement for its existence. Such a feeling can be derived from the natural environment, but is more often made up of a mix of natural and cultural features in the landscape, and generally includes the people who occupy the place.

James Kunstler believes creating a sense of place is more complex and stated in the his book The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, “Community is not something you have, like pizza. Nor is it something you can buy. It's a living organism based on a web of interdependencies- which is to say, a local economy. It expresses itself physically as connectedness, as buildings actively relating to each other, and to whatever public space exists, be it the street, or the courthouse or the village green.”  If you haven’t seen James Kunstler’s TED Talk “How bad architecture wrecked cities” it is worth the 19 min and 48 seconds. 

As DC moves into the new year it will be interesting to see the designs and proposals for new developments as the demand for downtown real estate continues to rise.  Hopefully the developers will have public input in the planning process to create a collaborative investment in the future of urban neighborhoods.