Follow our Editors reporting LIVE on the scene
WASHINGTON, DC-A grease fire in the Ronald Regan building shut the government facility down this morning. No injuries or fatalities have been reported but the nearby streets have been closed since 7 am, causing traffic to snarl for miles on Constitution Ave. According to preliminary reports by first responders on the ground the fire started in the cafeteria in the early morning hours.
The building’s closure caused the Washington DC RealShare Conference to be postponed to a later date. “We are looking at our options now and hope to have a new date for Washington RealShare DC very soon,” Michael Desiato, vice president and group publisher of the ALM-Real Estate Media Group, tells GlobeSt.com. “Stay tuned.”
Desiato and ALM conference staffers took refuge in the nearby JW Marriott, along with other conference attendees who had come downtown to hear the 35 or so speakers this morning. Word came quickly, however, from the building’s management that iconic government facility would be closed until at least 11 am as the fire department investigated to make sure the fire hadn’t spread and for smoke conditions to clear.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
