When Boston Properties entered the Washington, D.C., real estate market in 1980, the area’s main drivers of vertical construction were government and any business that supported it. Forty years later, federal work remains an essential part of the mix, but an accelerating technology sector has sparked sustained building activity that has, at least so far, weathered the brunt of the pandemic’s economic upheaval and uncertainty.
Indeed, during what many might consider a forgettable year, Boston Properties marked the topping out of a 28-story office tower that, with its 20-story companion structure, make up the first phase of RTC Next, a planned 4.4-million-sq-ft extension of the Reston Town Center in northern Virginia. Volkswagen Group of North America has committed to join Fannie Mae as prime tenants for RTC Next, which will also include a hotel and multifamily towers that could break ground later this year.