Downtown D.C. is in dire straits, with only half of commuters showing up to the office on any given day, keeping their discretionary income in the suburbs and laying waste to commercial property values. The Bowser administration’s proposed solution is laudable — transform downtown into a hive of activity buzzing with the addition of 15,000 new residents.
But how do we get there?
The vast majority of downtown real estate is commercial office. The entire environment is built around the 9-to-5 set, leaving a dearth of community amenities — supermarkets, playgrounds, health care, child care, schools and so on — that residents need and expect when they choose a home neighborhood.
The administration’s pitch calls for subsidizing the conversion of office buildings into apartments with 20-year tax abatements. It’s built into the mayor’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, ballooning what the city sets aside for its downtown housing tax break from $2.5 million currently to $41 million…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.
