Retail vacancies have begun to come down from their pandemic highs across the Metropolitan Washington region, but not in Downtown D.C.
The District’s central business district’s vacancy has risen from 6.6% in winter 2020 to 20.7% this summer, according to new research by retail advisory firm Dochter & Alexander. The East End’s vacancy rose from 9.2% to 21.2%. Combined, there is more than 800K SF of vacant high street retail in the heart of the nation’s capital.
Those office-heavy areas are lagging behind the rest of the region, where high-street retail vacancy dropped overall vacancy rate to just over 14%, down from about 15.8% last fall.
With rising interest rates restricting access to credit and a shaky office market that’s yet to return to full strength, there may be further trouble ahead for the landlords stuck with underutilized storefronts, Dochter & Alexander Retail Advisors principal Dave Dochter told Bisnow.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jacob Wallace over at Bisnow
