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0 pointssnowwrestler7y ago0 comments

Another major advantage of Crystal City is that it is full of empty real estate. It was built up to house major federal agencies and their contractors, but all the agencies have moved out, and so have most of the contractors.

The Patent and Trademark Office had 5 huge buildings; they moved to Alexandria. The Dept of Defense is moving a lot of its employees to Fort Belvoir, and the contractors are following.

It's really kind of crazy to have such a major business district so deep in a major metropolitan area, with such low average occupancy.

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Animats7y ago

I knew the USPTO had moved out. Those buildings are half a century old. Does Amazon plan to tear down and rebuild?

snowwrestlerOP7y ago

I wish I knew what Amazon was going to do!

I do believe they have said they want some folks working out of HQ2 in 2019, so that means using existing buildings, at least at first.

The USPTO buildings have a lot going for them: pretty close to Metro, dedicated parking garages, and a great view out over the airport. I had occasion to work in one of them in 2011 and it was in fine shape.

But even if Amazon does choose Crystal City, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll go after those USPTO buildings specifically. There are plenty of empty floors and buildings in CC to choose from.

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