Tishman Speyer is planning an 800-unit, mixed-use development with 44k SF of retail on a newly acquired two-acre parking lot site near Nationals Park.

The Capitol Riverfront site comprises the entire block between Half and First streets SE and I and K streets SE, just a few blocks from the Navy Yard Metro and the ballpark.

"We were extremely pleased to find such a well-located site for our initial residential project in the district," Tishman Speyer regional managing director Paul De Martini said in a release.

The site had previously been owned by DRI and Jamestown, which had planned 700k SF of office space, Capitol Riverfront BID president Michael Stevens tells Bisnow. He says the shift in land use reflects the softness of the DC office market.

"It's still a slow, sluggish office market," Michael says. "DRI had held on to the property for some time hoping the market would improve."

In a similar move, Akridge is parting ways with a nearby First Street site it had planned to build a 220k SF office building on. Cushman & Wakefield is marketing that site as a possible residential play as well.

Meanwhile, DC residential is booming, especially at the riverfront. Just two blocks away from Tishman's site, Jair Lynch is developing a 10-story mixed-use building with at least 365 residential units. In the same neighborhood, JBG is working on a 290-unit residential building and has plans for two more buildings totaling up to 425 additional units.

"Tishman saw the trends in the marketpace with the population surge outpacing job growth," Michael says. "Residential is the hottest market in the city, there are more multifamily buildings under construction than anything else."

Michael will discuss this and other riverfront projects with several major developers at Bisnow's Booming Capitol Riverfront event on July 21.