ULI Shuffles Offices For Global HQ, Washington Chapter
The Urban Land Institute has a new global headquarters in downtown D.C., just a block away from its previous decadelong home.
The urban planning nonprofit moved into 26K SF at 2101 L St. NW, it told Bisnow. The organization, which has more than 45,000 members worldwide, relocated from 2001 L St. NW, where it had 33K SF. ULI had leased that space for 15 years in 2015.
The headquarters move also comes alongside a shift for ULI’s local office. ULI Washington, which was previously colocated with its parent organization, has found a new home in NoMa, a rapidly developing submarket in D.C. The chapter now has an 800 SF sublease at Hickok Cole’s headquarters, a former 1930s-era printing press warehouse that the architecture firm took over in 2021.
Both offices made their move this month, and programming will begin at ULI’s new headquarters this fall.
“The new headquarters was designed to bring teams together, strengthen our culture, and advance our mission to shape the future of cities and communities,” ULI Global CEO Angela Cain said in a press release shared with Bisnow.
“We’re also proud to be part of a vibrant downtown community and to contribute to the energy and vitality of a strong urban core that is central to the work we do every day,” she added.
Natural light, accessibility and a balance of shared and focused working spaces at 2101 L were among the draws for its employees.
ULI’s new landlords for its global headquarters are BG Ventures and ELV Associates. In December 2024, the partners purchased the corner 375K SF building for $110M from JBG Smith, which still manages the building. Built in the 1970s, the building was renovated in 2007. Shortly after closing, BG and ELV secured a 67,700 SF lease with architecture firm Page Southerland Page.
ULI Washington’s move away from shared headquarters space is part of what the organization calls a “deliberate shift” to spread out its events across the region. The chapter plans to hold future events at its NoMa office, the new global headquarters office and throughout the DMV.
“Our members are distributed across the entire National Capital Region, and our programming should reflect that,” ULI Washington Executive Director William Herbig said in a separate release last week.
ULI Washington also said that choosing to share space with Hickok Cole “formalizes a relationship that has existed in practice for years.” Hickok Cole co-founder Yolanda Cole was a past ULI Washington chair and is a member of its governance committee.
Silverline Equities’ Anthony Chang represented ULI Washington in its relocation. He is on the chapter’s executive committee. Cushman & Wakefield represented ULI in its global headquarters move.
