This year will be slow and steady, which means we may have to borrow the University of Maryland's mascot for all DC CRE events. (A terrapin is a tortoise with attitude, right?) Here's what's in store...

Former mayor Tony Williams (with Economic Club exec director Mary Brady) says when the first phase of the $1B CityCenter delivers later this year, it'll “set an important precedent for 21st century urban space.” Tony, who as mayor in 2003 selected Hines and Archstone as developers, is eagerly following Akridge and Amtrak’s Burnham Place over the Union Station tracks and GSA’s revitalization of the St. Elizabeths campus.

Tony is now CEO for Federal City Council, which unites business and civic leaders to eradicate the District’s largest challenges. 2013 projects include a roadmap for education initiatives, such as more charter schools, as well as working on infrastructure with local authorities like District CFO Nat Gandhi (second from right with Washington Examiner president Michael Phelps, communications guru Julie Chase, and First Potomac’s Ernie Jarvis).

If 2013 is a good year for office, it’ll be thanks to smaller deals, says Arent Fox’s Keith Styles (ever the optimist, sporting a Capitals tie). A few big government-related deals will advance—the Old Post Office, Walter Reed, and Federal Triangle South—but big, sexy deals take years and won't surface in 2013.

Relatively new shopping centers in the right spots (well-paid residents, TODs) like CityMarket at O will continue to do well, but no new strip centers or malls will come until at least 2015, Keith tells us. And retailers will be much more selective, opting for well-thought-out one-off openings rather than five- or 40-store rollouts.

A single-family recovery would boost the broader economy but could ding multifamily demand at a time when there’s tons of construction in submarkets like Ballston, Arlington, and Alexandria, Keith says. Look for the beginnings of a condo comeback, too.