For the commercial real estate sector, 2025 brought a deluge of disruptions, distress and some market-shaking deals to the District of Columbia.

As the year comes to a close, Bisnow D.C. is rewinding the tape on the biggest, most impactful stories of the year — the moments and trends that we’ll remember long into 2026 and beyond.

The past year saw a new law that overhauled the city’s multifamily regulatory environment, a deal to bring D.C.’s NFL team back to the city after nearly three decades, and a slew of federal actions with impacts that have penetrated nearly every aspect of life in the city.

It was the year that new trophy office development finally got a jump-start and the year that megaproject The Wharf traded hands. Restaurants closed at a record pace, and while traditional ground-up multifamily construction remained stalled, office-to-residential conversions picked up.

Here are eight top stories that dominated the discussion in D.C. commercial real estate in 2025:

Law Firms Spurred New Development

Law firm movement remains a key driver of D.C. office leasing.

This year, law firm leasing activity is set to exceed all sectors — including the federal government. As of the third quarter, law firms accounted for 32% of the year’s leasing volume, according to CBRE.

Demand from law firms for new, better space in an extremely tight trophy market gave way to something that has become a rarity in the city: ground-up office development.

BXP announced it would build two new downtown D.C. office buildings this year, both for law firm anchors. The new Metro Center and West End buildings will be the first ground-up developments to start since Skanska’s 17xM in 2021.

The REIT first announced in January that it would build a 320K SF office building for McDermott Will & Emery at Metro Center. Cooley later signed on to that project, taking the building to nearly 90% full before construction had even begun. This month, BXP unveiled another such project: a 320K SF office building at 2100 M St. SW for anchor tenant Sidley Austin.

And with some big law firm expirations over the next five years, more could be on the way.

The Trump Effect

From the moment President Donald Trump came into town for the second time, it was clear the city was in store for some big changes.

Immediately after he was inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order that directed agencies to bring employees back in person full time and terminate remote work arrangements.

Then, under the direction of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the administration unveiled a deferred resignation program and started undertaking forced layoffs across agencies while gutting nearly all of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Meanwhile, the federal government’s spending cuts meant money was siphoned from the city’s nonprofits, contractors and research groups. And the administration’s swiftly changing leasing and disposition strategies threw the market into confusion.

The summer concluded with Trump sending the National Guard into town after declaring a “crime emergency.” This fall saw the longest-ever government shutdown dampen business activity in the city.