The Atlantic 10 college athletic conference is relocating its headquarters to the District, leasing an office in Dupont Circle.

The conference is moving from its home in Newport News, Virginia, where it has been located since 2009, Mayor Muriel Bowser and A-10 officials announced at a press conference Thursday. It is leasing 5K SF at the 1 Dupont Circle NW office building.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome the Atlantic 10 Conference headquarters to the Sports Capital,” Bowser said in the release.

“We look forward to working with Commissioner [Bernadette] McGlade and her team on the new partnerships and opportunities ahead and welcoming their 15 member schools to the best city in the world,” she said.

The A-10 will begin moving into the building in November and will be fully relocated in June, according to the release. Its space is planned to include a broadcast studio and media production facility, plus conference rooms and workstations.

Thursday’s event announcing the A-10 move took place at George Washington University, one of several schools the region has in the athletic conference. Fairfax County’s George Mason University and Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Richmond are also part of the conference. The A-10 is a 15-school organization, with 22 sports under its umbrella.

The 201K SF office building sits one block from the Dupont Circle Metro station. It has been owned since 1969 by the American Council on Education, which acquired it while it was under construction and maintains its offices there.

The building also houses offices for a National Collegiate Athletics Association satellite bureau. Its ground-floor retailers include The Admiral restaurant and pizza spot Boogy & Peel.

The Downtown area, especially Dupont Circle, has drawn multiple higher education institutions to lease space in office buildings this year. Across the street from the A-10’s new headquarters, Syracuse University and Princeton University signed leases for 1333 New Hampshire Ave. NW this year. A few blocks away, the University of Southern California purchased a 60K SF building this spring for its new D.C. headquarters.

This sector has helped bring new activity to the area as it struggles with pandemic-era vacancy: The central business district had a 22% office vacancy rate in the second quarter of the year, according to CBRE.

"What we want is the same vibrancy in our city that has allowed us to grow and thrive, and we know that attracting big employers and attracting important employers is a message to everyone that D.C. is open and a great place to do business, and that’s why we’re excited to celebrate with you," Bowser said at the press conference.