The moving date for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to be in early 2026, as the agency prepares to leave its longtime headquarters near Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. Its next stop: an office complex set to be built by regional property owner Douglas Development with a lease for 1.2 million square feet, among the largest of the past year for the D.C. area.
And, valued at nearly $1 billion, the agreement for 60 New York Ave. NE is the biggest government lease seen in nearly two decades in the nation’s capital city.
Douglas Development plans to break ground by mid-2022 on the approximately $350 million office project. The General Services Administration, which procures real estate for federal agencies, began a search four years ago as it looked to place about 4,500 SEC employees in a single complex while keeping those workers close to mass transit.
Widely Felt Move: The SEC’s shift to the NoMa neighborhood — north of Massachusetts Avenue — could have a profound catalytic effect on other types of development in an area that for many years struggled to land government or private office tenants of any kind. Washington has already moved to make portions of New York Avenue pedestrian-friendly, and other types of development could be attracted to the area around the SEC's future home, which currently is an underutilized parking lot.
Why it matters: “This is the largest government lease in this area that I’ve seen since the Department of Transportation signed for around 1.3 million, and that was around 20 years ago,” said Brian Sullivan, JLL managing director, who represented the landlord in the SEC deal.
The SEC currently operates out of about 1.3 million square feet in three buildings along F Street and Second Avenue near Union Station. The GSA agreed in September 2021 to a lease calling for the commission to occupy two adjacent buildings at the new complex, called Financial Plaza. The lease calls for the federal government to pay an annual rent of approximately $54 per square foot for a term of 15 years with a 10-year renewal option. It also gives the GSA fixed renewal rates and fixed purchase options after the 16th and 26th year of the lease.
What they’re saying: “It should bring in some other offices and residential, and you could probably see more retail coming in there down the line once all of those new workers are in place,” said Sullivan, who grew up in the D.C. area and remembers the years when portions of NoMa near the future SEC offices were not exactly inviting to visitors.
With the SEC on its way, Douglas Development, which owns more than 14 million square feet of office, retail and residential properties primarily in the D.C. area, is now looking to follow through on plans dating back several decades for the 5-acre site.
“Our vision to redevelop this expansive, freestanding site began 30 years ago when we first purchased the land, and it’s exciting to finally see it come to fruition,” said Norman Jemal, managing principal of Douglas Development, in a statement.
Midtown Equities, led by the Cayre family of New York, is a joint venture partner with Douglas Development on the office project. Todd Valentine, David Lipson and Neil Levy of brokerage Savills represented the GSA on the SEC lease, with the GSA’s Kevin Terry.
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