Emerging Office Space Opportunities in The COVID Enrironment

You already know this – the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way you are doing business.  When the greater DC Metro area was ordered to stay at home in late March, it had a profound effect on the workforce.  Many companies adopted work from home policies during the lockdown and as restrictions are slowly lifted, many of these companies will have a more permanent remote work policy for the foreseeable future.



Numerous surveys show that employees want to come back to work, and with the vaccine on the horizon, many businesses will be opening their offices.  At Cresa, we see opportunity on the horizon as well.   Many businesses in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia have been burdened with office space throughout this pandemic that they cannot use, or that no longer supports the way they work.  For DC area companies, this has produced an extremely attractive opportunity to take advantage of the current leasing market: 

The office space market is getting better and better for tenants.

More office space is coming on to the market each week causing excess inventory.  At the same time, demand going down with more companies instituting remote work policies.  The below graphs illustrate this increase in inventory due to subleases hitting the market:




Compared against pre-pandemic subleases, the District of Columbia has nearly 50% more sublease inventory, suburban Maryland increased inventory available by 27%, and Northern Virginia saw a 43% increase. That’s a lot of inventory and new competition for area Landlords!

Rent is currently remaining stable, but landlords are increasing incentives in a big way.

We do expect direct rental rates to eventually come down, but we have not seen a significant decrease yet.  However, landlords are offering huge incentives to get Tenants to extend existing leases or lease new space.   Free rent and construction and build-out allowances have increased 40% on average since March 2020.  To try and prevent devaluing their assets, Landlords have held firm on asking rent prices since the beginning of March 2020:



So, what does this mean for your business?

If your company and workforce is evaluating the way they work, if your business is expanding, contracting or close to a lease expiration, now is the time to contact us to find the right solution for your business.  Our team will create a strategy to first look at your business operations and current space and craft a plan that matches your business objectives.  With the current vacancies and inventory increasing, tenants have a unique opportunity.  We represent tenants ONLY, so you can be assured that your interests are never compromised.  Regardless of where you are in the term of your lease, let’s discuss options to align your real estate with your business objectives.  Visit my website or call me at 301-841-6542 to discuss.  Make sure to follow all of my social efforts by clicking on the links below and following me. 

I specialize in providing comprehensive real estate services, 
exclusively representing corporate tenants on all commercial real estate needs.

Daniel Shapiro
Commercial Tenant Broker
2 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 900
Bethesda, MD 20814

301-842-6542

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Location: Bethesda, MD, USA

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