The Urban Land Institute has quietly downsized its global headquarters into a smaller downtown D.C. office, while its Washington chapter has settled into a compact NoMa perch. ULI says the shakeup is designed to support a more spread-out programming calendar across the region, with activity at the new spaces expected to pick up in the fall.
Global HQ Slides One Block, Trims Space
ULI has traded its longtime home at 2001 L Street NW for a smaller office one block away at 2101 L Street NW. The institute now occupies roughly 26,000 square feet there, down from about 33,000 square feet at its previous address. The move wrapped up this month, and ULI says the new layout is meant to pull teams closer together while still maintaining a downtown presence, with programming slated to kick off in the fall, as reported by Bisnow.
Fresh Owners, Big Architecture Tenant At 2101 L
The building at 2101 L Street now belongs to a joint venture of BG Ventures and ELV Associates and has quickly become a leasing story in its own right. Within weeks of acquiring the property, the new owners signed a roughly 67,700-square-foot lease with architecture firm Page Southerland Page. The deal highlights continued demand for amenitized Class A offices downtown, per CBRE.
ULI Washington Tucks Into 800 Square Feet In NoMa
On the local side, ULI Washington has taken an 800-square-foot sublease inside Hickok Cole's headquarters in NoMa, formalizing a relationship between the chapter and the architecture firm. "Our members are distributed across the entire National Capital Region, and our programming should reflect that," ULI Washington executive director William Herbig said. ULI Global CEO Angela Cain added that the new headquarters was designed to "bring teams together" and reinforce culture, comments shared with Bisnow. Details about Hickok Cole’s Press House headquarters are provided by Hickok Cole.
What The Shuffle Says About The Office Market
ULI's moves line up with a broader pattern in the office world: organizations are trimming their central footprints while spreading programming and outreach across a wider map, rather than anchoring every function in one big downtown space. CBRE's leasing update at 2101 L Street points to selective absorption in top-tier offices even as vacancy pressures linger, which helps explain why ULI and similar groups are being choosy about where they park their headquarters functions, per CBRE.
