Norman Jemal.
Norman Jemal
Managing Principal at Douglas Development
The biggest office lease of 2021 in D.C. was hands down the Securities and Exchange Commission’s relocation from Union Station to NoMa, where the federal agency took 1.2 million square feet to anchor a new development from Douglas Development and Midtown Equities.
“The SEC transaction was not just the highlight of the whole year, but probably of my career,” said Norman Jemal. “Not just the size but the impact, how it will change that community and bring jobs and opportunity to the neighborhood.”
The SEC deal may have been the biggest, but it certainly wasn’t the only one for Douglas Development, one of the more notable office landlords and developers in the D.C. area. In fact, Douglas Development recently closed on a lease with the D.C. Housing Authority, which signed for over 50,000 square feet in the same building that houses the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority headquarters.
Douglas Development has also been focusing on multifamily and has several projects in the D.C. suburbs, including a 356-unit apartment complex in Takoma Park, Md., and another in Prince George’s County, Md. Douglas was also early to the office-to-resi conversion trend that’s sweeping D.C., having completed the conversion of the Watermark, a pre-cast 1970s office building in Buzzard Point to residential units in 2020. Jemal sees more of that in the future.
“People are generally still finding their way as to where office goes and what it becomes,” he said.
Douglas Development also got into coworking, transforming three former WeWork locations in its buildings into its own self-managed label, The Mark.
“In every business within real estate, everything has become more hospitality-like, whether it’s apartment living or office providing,” said Jemal. “No matter what you do you have to go vertical, and this is just one of those steps.”
Going forward, Jemal expects to keep busy. “We’re a buyer and seller,” he said. “We’re agnostic about asset class. We don’t believe there is a death of any asset class. If the basis is right, then so be it.”
