Latest from Get the Dirt

The District of Columbia’s Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) plays an outsized role in shaping neighborhoods, housing outcomes, and development timelines. The BZA is an independent, quasi‑judicial body responsible for hearing zoning variances, special exceptions, and appeals of decisions made by the Zoning Administrator at the Department of Buildings. For developers navigating atypical site constraints,

Developers, operators, buyers, and sellers of apartment buildings in D.C., whether market rate, mixed-rate, or 100% affordable housing, will be impacted by the impending RENTAL Act (aka, the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Act of 2025). The D.C. Council completed its first vote (10-2) in favor of the RENTAL Act on July 28,

Last week, downtown D.C. received another huge boost when it was announced that Mayor Bowser and Monumental Sports entered into a non-binding agreement that will keep the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals playing in Capital One Arena for decades to come.  The announcement came only weeks after Mayor Bowser unveiled the “Housing in Downtown” tax-incentive

The data center permitting and entitlement review process might be getting more difficult in Northern Virginia. Home to nearly 300 data centers, Northern Virginia has become known as “Data Center Alley.” Scattered across Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William counties, these data centers handle more than a third of the world’s online traffic. And the demand for

If the COVID-19 pandemic was
not already difficult enough on the D.C. real estate development community,
recent proposed legislation by the D.C. Council might make developing
condominiums in the city more challenging.

On September 17, 2020, the D.C. Council’s Committee on
Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization held a public hearing on two bills that
will impact

Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, said during his testimony before a Senate subcommittee on
September 16 that wearing face masks may be more effective than a vaccine at
protecting against COVID-19. What is surprising is the authority tasked
with enforcing public health requirements for face masks in the

As
part of the initial flurry of administrative and regulatory changes in response
to the ongoing pandemic, the Zoning Commission (Commission) took emergency
action to approve a text amendment to the Zoning Regulations extending the
validity of approval orders that otherwise would expire between April 27, 2020,
and December 31, 2020. The amendment applies to