Best Possible Time For Firms to Lease Office?
DC is a tenant's market, says Jones Lang LaSalle. If you're a firm looking to relocate or renegotiate a lease, the next 12 to 36 months would be the prime time to do so with the "best possible conditions."
We spoke with JLL law firm group co-chair Thomas Doughty, managing director Greg McCavera, co-chair Elizabeth Cooper and managing director Philip Leibow. The group just put out its annual law firm report. They tell us concession packages with free rent and tenant improvement allowances are at an all-time high (and DC's already known for giving more tenant improvement allowance than other markets). JLL's law firm group has closed more than 50 law firm transactions this year, totaling over 1M SF in DC alone with offices including White & Case, Reed Smith, and Morris Manning. Greg tells us that 81 of the AmLaw100 firms in DC have recently rightsized, generally shedding 20 to 30 percent of their footprints and creating more efficient spaces. As a result, there will be more than 3.6M SF of second-gen space coming back onto the market.
