D.C. is the place to be,’ and Trump hasn’t changed that, says one real estate exec

Written by Dan Brendel and published by Washington Business Journal on February 14, 2025

President Donald Trump’s order sending federal employees back to in-person work is among a confluence of factors that make now the time to lean into office real estate in downtown D.C., says Hai Chien Wang, CEO and co-founder of private investor and developer Taicoon Property Partners LLC, and a veteran in commercial real estate.

Trump’s recent rhetoric and flurry of executive orders is causing uncertainty and angst, generally not great for business, in many circles, though not all.

Wang falls into the latter category, cautioning against a too-broad overreaction, which people tend to do after “every drastic change,” only to see things “settle after a couple of years,” he said in an interview. He noted for comparison that Amazon.com Inc. didn’t kill brick-and-mortar stores and Covid-19 didn’t destroy the hospitality industry, despite fretting at the time.

When it comes to his business, Trump’s actions — specifically, his Jan. 20 executive order terminating remote work for federal employees, requiring them to return to full-time in-person work — aren’t the be-all and end-all. They actually contribute on balance to Wang’s company being “very bullish” and “really optimistic” about downtown.

“D.C. is the place to be,” with potential to “become one of the hottest markets in the country,” Wang told me. That’s not only due to Trump. Wang said that “D.C. is in a very rare moment in history where you see federal policy, local policy and historic low commercial real estate prices all aligned at the same time.”

But he believes the president’s recalling federal workers is a meaningful ingredient in that soup, ultimately to the benefit of downtown, where Taicoon has two office deals in the works.

Wang worked for Sentinel Real Estate Corp. for more than 15 years before becoming Taicoon’s CEO in April 2023. That same year, Taicoon made its debut office acquisition just across the Key Bridge in Arlington, where it plans to redevelop hotel-branded luxe condos. It’s been active since, even “when the market was very quiet,” Wang said. Trump 2.0 hasn’t knocked that outlook off its axis.

Wang described other factors contributing to his bullishness, some related to Trump, some not:

• The potential that trimming the federal deficit might help tamp down inflation, leading perhaps to “short-term pain, but mid-term to long-term gain for the health of the economy,” Wang said.
• The potential influx of “decision-makers” and consultants who will want to be close to the new administration, driving new local demand.
• Office prices in the District having been battered, presenting buyers like Taicoon with investment opportunities at a “historic low basis.”
• D.C.’s recent “Office to Anything” incentive, which Wang called a “huge boost” to those looking to convert old offices into apartments or hotels.
• Huge investments in Capital One Arena in downtown D.C.
• The Washington Commanders making the playoffs, and talk about the team returning to the District in a new stadium at the RFK Stadium campus.

“On the local level, there’s so many things to cheer for,” Wang said. “It just doesn’t look as bad, and it doesn’t have to be that scary.”

“I won’t say it’s all good,” but overall, what D.C. has going for it, not excluding the new administration, is “net positive,” he said.

Even if the Trump administration lays off a big chunk of federal workers, Wang doesn’t foresee D.C. becoming a ghost town. The government “will have to outsource to somebody else, the work hasn’t been diminished,” he said.

Wang wasn’t offering a partisan plug or endorsement of every jot and tittle of what the president is up to. Wang is “neutral politically,” he said, “and as a business owner, we try to adapt to any new reality.”