Industry News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a new state-of-the-art emergency anthrax response center on its main Atlanta campus. Funded in part by a $3.9-million grant from the foundation of The Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, the center’s round-the-clock staffing will enable constant monitoring for potential health and safety threats and rapid mobilization.

Gannett’s new 880,000-sf McLean headquarters was completed in October of 2001. Located on 25 acres, the $300-million project, including $160-million in construction costs, features an additional 750,000-sf mostly underground parking garage. Architects Kohn Pederson Fox designed the base building, with Lehman-Smith + McLeish designing the interiors. Developed by Hines of Houston, the building is comprised of two connecting towers and houses a 20,000-sf fitness center, a mile-long jogging trail, a 400-seat employee café, and 2 acres of landscaped rooftop terraces.

American University is building the Park Bethesda Apartments, a student housing complex at the site of the former National Institutes of Health offices in Bethesda. Planned as a luxury apartment complex, the upscale development now under construction will house approximately 730 graduate and law students in 258 units. The 305,000-sf complex, designed by architect R.A. Ponte & Associates, will include studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and two-story, three-bedroom units.

Premium Distributors, a D.C. beer distributor, has built a new 154,000-sf headquarters in Washington. The one-story office building contains a partially submerged section where approximately one million cases of beer are refrigerated.  The $11-million building is the first development in the Fort Lincoln New Town section and features an indoor loading bay for delivery trucks. Architect Herring & Trowbridge designed the facility, which consolidates three former locations.

The Institute for International Economics’ 37,000-gsf headquarters was completed in 14 months by Sigal Construction of Washington, D.C.  New York-based architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates designed the $15-million facility, the interior of which is organized around a skylit atrium. The first floor, 250-person conference center can be expanded into a sculpture garden adjacent to the rear of the building. The Institute moved into the new facility in August, 2001. The project was developed by the Kaempfer company.