First CLT Office Opens In DC

Opened in fall 2022, the first mass timber commercial building in the U.S. capital city features more than 108,000 sq. ft. of mass timber. The building is an innovative retrofit at 80 M Street SE in Washington, DC: Termed an overbuild—extra stories atop an existing building—the expansion features three floors, where columns of mass timber are visible from the interior.

The project used 1,300 tons of CLT, with the mass timber addition sized at 108,000 sq. ft. of the overall 286,000 sq. ft. space. The developer of the project is Columbia Property Trust; architect is Hickok Cole. Engineering firm Arup performed the retrofit, and the property opened late September. First tenants are the American Trucking Assn. and BP America. Nordic Structures supplied the glulam beams and columns used in the project, and Katerra supplied the CLT.