Chip Akridge News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Soaring Downtown Office Vacancies Pushing Developers Toward Apartment Conversions The strategy of converting office buildings to residential has taken off in the suburbs and in some of D.C.'s emerging submarkets, but it has been difficult for developers to make conversion projects work in the city's central business district.  That dynamic appears to be changing, some developers and experts say, as the elevated office vacancy in the downtown market makes conversion projects more appealing.  Courtesy of Helen Kozak The Watermark apartment...

Chip Akridge has built 20M SF of office in the D.C. area over the last four decades, and he has always started construction on a speculative basis, confident that the building will lease up once the project is under construction.  That confidence is now waning, as record-high vacancy in the District makes the founder and chairman of development firm Akridge more hesitant to start new office projects.  Bisnow/Jon Banister Akridge founder Chip Akridge "The office market in the D.C. area has really dropped off, so we're not excited about building commercial space in the D.C. a...