Office Space

Mike Judge planned to step out of the office only briefly. Instead, he disappeared from his desk for a decade. Back in 1999, Judge -- the creator of such immortal animated characters as Beavis, Butt-head and Hank Hill -- attempted his first live-action feature film, based on his own workplace experience. Judge's hot streak suddenly came to a halt: His cubicle-life comedy "Office Space" -- given little hype or studio "flair" -- flopped at the box office, prompting Fox execs to tell him, in effect: You're...

In April, I was sitting in a delightful duplex apartment in Bartlesville, Okla. If things had gone differently, it would have been one of the most prestigious addresses in Washington, known for its "designed by Frank Lloyd Wright" pedigree and, for those lucky enough to get inside, as a place endowed with a magical ambience. The apartment is in the Price Tower, once the corporate headquarters for the H.C. Price Co. The tower design was lifted from Wright's 1940 Crystal City project, an ambitious 14-tower hotel and apartment complex combined...

After months of delays, Wal-Mart has three stores under construction in the District, and developers are re-working plans for a fourth and fifth store, on East Capitol Street and New York Avenue NE, respectively. Of the three stores under construction, two are part of mixed-use projects the likes of which the retailer shied away from until a few years ago. Two are scheduled to open later this year. At 77 H St. NW, the JBG Cos. is building a Wal-Mart on the ground floor of a brick-clad building with 300 apartments upstairs.

The greater Fair Oaks area, situated just west of Fairfax City at the intersection of Route 50 and Interstate 66, grew rapidly in the 1980s, thanks to an influx of technology-related firms. But the demand for office space has weakened in recent months, even as conditions for residential properties improve. Office vacancies rise, rents slide Fair Oaks' 7.1 million-square-foot office market has not started off the year strong. About 78,000 more square feet became available in the first quarter than was leased (meaning net...

Being the leader of the free world is an expensive proposition. And the costs don't stop once you leave the White House. The government spent nearly $3.7 million on former presidents in 2012, according to an analysis released by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. That covers a pension, compensation and benefits for office staffers, and other costs. The costliest former president? George W. Bush, who clocked in last year at just more than $1.3 million. The $3.7 million taxpayers...

The secretive government agency that flies spy satellites has made a stunning gift to NASA: two exquisite telescopes as big and powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope. They've never left the ground and are in storage in Rochester, N.Y. It's an unusual technology transfer from the military-intelligence space program to the better-known civilian space agency. It could be a boost for NASA's troubled science program, which is groaning under the budgetary weight of the James Webb Space Telescope, still at least six...

CORRECTION: The article misstated the location of a Corporate Executive Board building that is subleasing space to Deloitte. The building is in Arlington, not Alexandria. With amenities such as blast-resistant curtains, an environmentally friendly heating-and-cooling system and sweeping views of city attractions, Constitution Center in Southwest Washington seems the ideal place for a federal agency or security-minded company to locate. So says an online sales pitch. But property managers for the 1.4...

A passerby recently snapped a shot of Norm Coleman 's office in St. Paul, Minn., which, it seems, is on the market. A few days ago, Coleman's name was removed from the door, though the Senate office designation remained. But it's not what you think it is. Since Coleman is no longer a senator, a Hill official told us, "the Senate does not have the authority to maintain state office leases beyond the expiration of a senator's term, and we are awaiting notification of the election results from the state of Minnesota.

The federal government is the nation's largest employer and user of 1.9 percent of U.S. leased office space. All together, federal tenants lease approximately 168 million square feet of office space nationally, about the size of the San Francisco office market. In markets dominated by the federal government, the emerging push by Uncle Sam to shed excess office space under a proposed civilian version of BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is likely to have a dampening effect on overall demand for office...

The General Services Administration said it has signed a lease for 71,000 square feet at 1801 L St. NW for use by the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Space for TARP offices had been leased in buildings near the Treasury Department and more permanent space had been expected, according to a GSA spokesman. About 200 people are likely to occupy the space on L Street, for which the GSA is paying about $39 a square foot. Some brokers and developers are hoping that the program creates demand for more square footage and...

You can't get something out of nothing. This is common sense, not to mention a principle of physics and mathematics. Yet the amazing science of Mexico City's real estate development obeys no such laws. Urban planners here, in one of the world's most populous and crowded cities, have found a way to add thousands of square feet of new commercial and recreational space. And it isn't costing local government a cent. Their gambit is called Under Bridges ("Bajo Puentes"), and it's a...

The sales price for high-end "trophy" buildings remains sky high, with buyers accepting yields well below the market average, despite the fact that demand for office space has slowed here in the nation's capital. Those two facts don't seem to compute, but peeling back the layers, it appears that supply-and-demand fundamentals aren't at the heart of this investment dichotomy. Instead, yield-hungry investors are seeking an alternative to bonds, which today offer an even lower yield relative to their historical...

For the past three years, the Washington region has steadily added to the amount of new office space under construction, from 4 million square feet in 2010 to 7.3 million square feet currently under construction. At the end of the first quarter, only New York City and Houston had more office space under construction. While the supply of office space has grown 1 percent, demand has only increased 0.25 percent during the same three-year time frame. As a result, office vacancy rates have...

A "minor" land-use plan that is likely to accelerate the opening of a Wal-Mart in Aspen Hill triggered a major debate in the Montgomery County Council on Monday, as members argued over the economic and social impact of the retailing giant. By a 5 to 4 vote, the council approved a proposal by county planners to expedite zoning changes necessary to accommodate a Wal-Mart at Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue. The measure, called a "minor master plan amendment," is designed...

The entrepreneur For the growing number of people whose offices exist only virtually, a coffee shop might seem like the best option for an important business meeting. Caleb Parker thought there must be a better solution. In February, he started TouchdownSpace to fill the void. Parker made the leap from a small business he co-founded in 2009, which provided furnished office space with flexible terms through a network of shared office operators. As technology advanced, many of his clients no longer needed a permanent office to work...

Forest City Enterprise's recent proposal to convert the 579,000-square-foot Ballston Common Mall in Arlington County into a major mixed-use multifamily-retail project is the latest local example of a national trend that shows no signs of letting up. More and more older enclosed malls are being phased out and redeveloped into pedestrian-friendly, open-air formats that blend residential, retail and office space to attract workers, residents and shoppers....

The technology incubator on Florida Avenue is a no-frills kind of place. "Hi, welcome to Geekeasy ," Jamey Harvey says into his cell phone. Harvey heads up the office, but tonight he's doubling as the receptionist. The incubator doesn't have one, and someone needs to let guests in for the open house. "We'll be right down. " Many incubators in the Washington region are housed within universities or organized by municipal governments and economic development agencies.

The Washington region's market for commercial real estate slowed notably in 2007, as the federal government cut back on leasing activity and an uncertain economy diminished the private sector's appetite for office space, brokers and analysts said. About 23.4 million square feet of office space was leased in the Washington region during 2007, down 28.4 percent from 2006. "Tenants are trying to figure out what is going on with the economy," said Robert Hartley, director of research for the firm CB Richard...

Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator of the General Services Administration, has proposed trading the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue for a new FBI headquarters campus. He received 35 responses last month from interested parties. Now Tangherlini will have even more ideas at his disposal. In the 2013 Case real estate competition, an annual contest hosted by alumni from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate, graduate students in real estate and finance from across the country, and as far away...

Projects Proposed 1. School. VII PGS Owner, Vienna. A site plan was submitted to convert office space into a 75-student private school run by the Chelsea School, at the southwest corner of East West Highway and Belcrest Road, Hyattsville. 2. Commercial and residential. Calvert Tract, the District. A preliminary plan of subdivision was submitted for 248,000 square feet of commercial space, including a grocery store, and 981 residential units on the east side of Route 1, just south of...