Government

The historic Alfred E. Smith building in Albany, N.Y. is slated for rehabilitation by New York architecture and engineering firm WASA. Built between 1926 and 1930, the 32-story Smith building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Under the aegis of the State Office of General Services of New York, the comprehensive $68 million modernization project aims to create a technologically current, energy conscious and flexible office environment in the historic structure.

Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), based in El Segundo, Calif., is planning a new $42-million 325,000-sf office at the MetroView development across from IRS headquarters in Carrollton. CSC heads a seven-company team working on the modernization of the US tax system. The IT company’s new facility will house 1,225 employees. Construction is scheduled to start in summer 2001, with completion in May 2003. The general contractor is Gilford Construction. Beltsville, Md.-based Stephens Aylward & Associates is the architect.

Fort Sam Houston is planning a new U.S. Army Reserves Center for the 90th Regional Support Command. The project includes a new 58,900-sf training center and a 36,200-sf storage facility. Estimated to cost between $10 million and $25 million, the development will accommodate approximately 1,600 reserve soldiers currently assigned to reserve units in San Antonio. Two existing buildings will be demolished to make way for the new center which will house administrative space, classrooms, assembly and kitchen facilities, a library, and an arms-room vault.

The State of California Department of General Services is working with Pleasanton, Calif.-based Neilsen Dillingham Builders to construct phases I & II of its new Richmond Laboratory Dept. of Health Services. The $115.2 million, 482,000-sf project includes a custom 326,000-sf, seven-building investigation facility, and a multi-building 156,000-sf research and testing facility. Begun in August, 1998, completion is anticipated by project manager NBBJ in November of 2001.

The Naval & Maritime Integrated Systems Expeditionary Warfare Center is remodeling a 240,000-sf facility to house the operations of Raytheon Co. Approximately 30,000 sf of lab space in the building will be dedicated to the development, integration, and testing of the company's military electronics.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has solicited proposals for a 630,000-sf headquarters site in order to consolidate its Washington, D.C., operations now housed in two locations. Boston Properties, a Boston-based real estate investment trust, was expected to submit a proposal by mid-December 2000 to use one of its properties, currently a parking lot within walking distance of the new Washington Convention Center, as the location for the project.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Oakland Scientific Facility expected to take delivery of a $33 million IBM supercomputer in December 2000. The Oakland facility, a 75,000-sf former Wells Fargo Bank building, has undergone an $11 million retrofit including a new glass facade, seismic upgrades, a new cooling system, and special security devices. The computers will occupy rows of refrigerator-size cabinets that fill the building's first two floors. The project has been developed by Encinal Broadway, headed by Peter Wang.

The Veterans Administration has awarded a contract to LCOR Inc. of Berwyn, Pa., to develop a $150 million, 600,000-sf medical and research complex across the street from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham. The project will include 19,000 sf of primary care clinic space and 40,000 sf of medical and research space, plus retail and commercial space and parking on a 3.5-acre lot. As many as seven buildings are planned, with construction scheduled to begin in 2001.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office broke ground in January 2001 on its new $400-million, 2.4 million-sf headquarters in the Carlyle area of Alexandria. The new headquarters will consolidate employees from 18 Crystal City, Md., buildings in a five-building campus at the new site. The General Services Administration selected LCOR to develop the project. Completion of the first phase of the project is anticipated by 2003.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Atlanta recently selected McCarthy of St. Louis to construct its $132-million Building 18, the Emerging Infections Diseases Laboratory. Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2001 at the CDC’s Roybal Campus. The new lab will provide approximately 310,500 gsf of space for 459 scientific personnel, and will be completed in two phases. Phase I, a six-story, 40,000-gsf structure, will provide dry lab space for 184 lab staff.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has received site approval for a new $34.1-million headquarters to be built at the 226-acre Suitland Federal Center. The 208,271-sf facility will be located almost entirely underground. The landscaped roof, almost at ground-level, will incorporate skylights to provide natural light to offices below. NOAA employees from around the country (but not Washington, D.C.) will be consolidated in the new building, which is scheduled to open in 2004. By 2011, NOAA anticipates employing 648 people.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consolidated headquarters and laboratory campus broke ground recently at White Oak, a base realignment and closure site formerly home to the Naval Laboratory campus. The FDA, currently housed in more than 40 buildings at 18 different locations in the Washington, D.C., region will use 130 acres of the 670-acre campus.

The National Institutes of Health Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center, which broke ground in February 1999, opened in late August 2000. Spaulding & Slye was the developer of the fast-track $32-million, 82,500-sf facility, where researchers in immunology, virology, and HIV will work together toward developing an AIDs vaccine by 2007. The 10-story structure features laboratories, a high-tech education and conference center, cyber café, support spaces, and offices for principal investigators. For flexibility, an open lab plan with 11’ x 13’ space planning modules was chosen.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently awarded a $174-million construction contract for the Advanced Measurement Laboratory. The prime contractor is Clark/Gilford, a joint venture between The Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Md., and Gilford Corporation of Beltsville, Md. HDR Architecture of Alexandria, Va., designed the 511,040-sf facility; completion is scheduled for 2004.

The Veterans Administration has awarded a contract to LCOR of Berwyn, Pa., to develop a $150-million, 600,000-sf medical and research complex across the street from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham. The project will include 19,000 sf of primary care clinic space and 40,000 sf of medical and research space, plus retail and commercial space with parking on a 3.5-acre lot. As many as seven buildings are planned, with construction scheduled to begin in 2001. NBBJ, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is the designer for the project.