The name itself, which began as a marketing ploy to mimic trendy New York neighborhoods like SoHo and TriBeCa, has caught on among a fraternity of developers, builders and city planners, if not yet with the general public.

But with a sluggish economy, NoMa had a second-quarter office vacancy rate of 14.5 percent, much of it newly built space. This rate is the highest of Washington’s submarkets, according to an analysis by Grubb & Ellis, and there are concerns in the current economic crisis about the pace of development.

The corridor is two or three blocks wide and stretches about a mile north from Union Station, Washington’s train terminal, and within sight of the Capitol dome. The area formerly held mainly parking lots, warehouses and light industry... (clink on link for rest of article)