After almost 16 years at 1250 H St. N.W., the D.C. Bar has found some new digs and plans to move in at the end of May.
The bar, which signed a 12-year lease for office space at 1101 K St. N.W. this past weekend, had been looking for a new location for about a year in preparation of its lease running out in May. Cynthia Kuhn, D.C. Bar spokeswoman, says the bar had considered buying office space outright, but the D.C. Bar’s building committee, which scouted out "hundreds" of locations, said leasing space in the 10-story building at 1101 K St. was the best value.
Though the D.C. Bar was not immediately able to provide the particulars of the lease, real estate brokers who handle legal real estate estimated the rent at somewhere between $55 and $65 per square foot.
“Rent is a significant cost of our operation. It always has been,” Kuhn says.
Kuhn says the new location is fairly close to the old one and will encompass 52,375 square feet of office space, conference rooms, and meeting areas, an increase of about 10,000 square feet.
Last September, the D.C. Court of Appeals approved a $90 increase to the maximum amount in annual dues the bar can charge, a move largely driven by the bar’s effort to find a new location amid the ongoing economic crisis. The court’s approval allows the D.C. Bar’s board of governors to raise annual dues as it sees fit up to the ceiling of $285. If bar leaders vote to raise dues, an increase could come as early as July 1.
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