WASHINGTON, DC-It is rare to give more than cursory attention to the choice of words in the title of a business report. In the case of Delta Associates and Transwestern's latest tome for their annual Trendlines conference--Trends in Washington, D.C. Commercial Real Estate – A New Playbook--that would be a mistake if it leads you to gloss over the word “playbook.” As it has in the 16 other Trendline reports and conferences, this year's gathering looked at the trends of the year before and the issues expected to impact commercial real estate in the coming year. But this year's conference also came down hard on the "playbook" part.

"As we enter 2014 DC commercial real estate players will need a new playbook," said Greg Leisch, CEO of Delta Associates and the keynote speaker at the Thursday evening event. “We face a more competitive environment with other markets attracting attention from investors that typically would come here.”

Phillip McCarthy, executive managing director - Market Leader at Transwestern, made a similar point a few days ago when he spoke with GlobeSt.com about the then upcoming conference. It has been easy to succeed in DC's real estate markets to date, McCarthy said -- but that is changing. "We will not have the benefit of cap rate compression going forward and winners will be very location sensitive. People can't win merely by just standing around anymore,” he said.

Enter Delta Associates and Transwestern's "playbook." For each trend identified -- for example, younger people with income levels that are 35% less than the average District resident are moving into the city in droves -- an opportunity was also identified. In this case: take advantage of the Millennial generation's preference for city living and their disinclination to own cars. Ultimately success will go to the investor that looks beyond the next 12 months, the Trendlines playbook declares.

Over the course of the next few days, GlobeSt.com will be taking a closer look at some of the details in the data-intensive, 122-page report.

Instant Insights /

Trendlines: Today's DC Requires Smarts

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