Defense Dept. Seeks New Round of BRAC

WASHINGTON, DC-The Washington, DC area’s commercial real estate market is bracing itself for another round of Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC, changes. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that President Barack Obama plans to seek authority to close more bases under his proposed 2013 budget. The last BRAC wave, in 2005, had a significant impact on the DC region, to state the obvious. It has led to new construction around Ft. Meade and Ft. Belvoir and caused some submarkets, such as Crystal City, to reorient their focus to the private sector. 

Expect more of the same this time around, although what the end result will be is impossible to say at this point, Joseph Brennan, Jones Lang LaSalle’s managing director tells GlobeSt.com. “This is just step one of the BRAC process,” he says. “We have many Congressional hearings, much lobbying and countless BRAC commission sessions to go through before we know what we are dealing with.”

However, he says, his gut reaction is that the Pentagon will continue the realignment and streamlining of the earlier BRAC closures. “Statements Pentagon officials have made about the need for a smaller and more surgical force indicate to me that the era of large bases and owning large parcels of land is coming to an end.”

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Brennan will also be watching any new security requirements that may result from the last BRAC closures, although in the last round the Pentagon clearly blinked. “They made some stringent requirements, such as with set backs, that could not be accomplished in urban settings like Arlington or the District,” Brennan says. In the end, Brennan says, a number of exceptions were made.

Sustainability and a focus on cost will also be a hallmark this time around, Brennan predicts. “The Defense Department is one of the largest consumers of energy on this planet,” he says. “The Pentagon will be focusing on reigning in costs in this area.”