Inman

Real estate looms over Congress

The National Association of Realtors will soon have a new place to call home.

Association staff concluded tours today of the new association building, which is in its final stages of construction and is expected to be occupied in September.

View slideshow of NAR’s new Washington, D.C., headquarters.

The new building, a glassy, sleek and trim structure that is designed to conserve energy, is within clear sight of the nation’s Capitol building. Realtors attending the association’s midyear conference toured the unfinished building this week.

For Dale Colby, 2004 chairman of the association’s Real Property Operations Committee, the progress on the building was a welcome sight.

“It’s marvelous,” he said. “It’s a sense of accomplishment. Now we can say, ‘Welcome home’ for everyone who comes to Washington who’s in the Realtor community.”

The site, at 500 New Jersey Ave., provides ready access to the Capitol and gives Realtors a very visible presence in the area, Colby said.

James Beeharilal, a part-time Realtor who works near the construction site, toured the building Thursday. He said he has watched as the site transform from a small gas station and thrift store to the new high-rise headquarters.

“I was so glad,” he said, when he heard the new building belonged to the Realtors association.

Beeharilal is a Realtor for Advantage Realty in Riverdale, Md.

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