Industry News

NeuStar, the supplier of area codes and blocks of numbers to telephone companies and Internet service providers, has opened its new headquarters office in downtown Washington. Ganek Baer Architects of Littleton, Mass., designed the facility to promote creative collaboration for the egalitarian corporate culture of NeuStar’s 150 employees. Offices are small and hexagonal, and surround open areas containing coffee islands. Small “backyard” alcoves which contain a round table a few chairs accommodate ad hoc consultations.

 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will occupy all but the top two floors of a nine-story building being developed by Lowe Enterprises Mid-Atlantic. The interior design will be handled by Hickok Warner Fox.   The FTC expects to occupy 200,000 sf of the 260,000-sf, $65-million structure in July 2002.

The Pentagon anticipates proceeding with its renovation. The announcement of a $620 million contract award to the developer/architectural team of  Colorado-based Hensel Phelps is expected. The 12 to 14 year project would include the reconstruction of 4 million sf in four wedges of the five-story building, each wedge housing approximately 5,000 employees. In addition to Hensel Phelps Construction, the project team includes Shalom Baranes Associates, HDR Architecture, MC Dean, Studio Architecture, and Southland Industries.

 The Organization of American States plans to renovate its General Secretariat building in Washington, where operations will be consolidated onto six floors and a lower level; three remaining floors will be leased. OAS selected the architectural firm Group Goetz and the engineering firm Joseph Loring Inc. to work on the project.

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Kaiser Family Foundation, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has plans to build a new nine-story, 96,000-sf public affairs office in Northwest Washington. The facility will house staff, a broadcast studio, conference space, and high-tech exhibition space. Local members of the development team include D.C.-based Concord Partners (owner's representative); Reston, Va.-based Wiles Mensch (civil engineering); and Bethesda, Md.-based Clark Construction (general contractor).