The General Services Administration (GSA) is gearing up for Phase 4 of the $900 million (and counting) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Headquarters Consolidation at the 
former site of the White Oak Naval Ordnance Laboratory off New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring, MD.
More than 4,500 FDA employees have already taken up occupancy within seven completed White Oak campus buildings designed by KlingStubbins and RTKL and built by Tompkins Builders (a subsidiary of Turner Construction). Assuming additional government funding comes through for the 2.3 million square foot facility, construction on the final building should wrap up in 2013. Upon completion, about 8,000 employees from 39 leased offices across DC will 
relocate to White Oak, uniting at long last the likes of Center for Devices and Radiological Health and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and fostering what FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach promised in a 2008 Consolidation Report will be a new spirit of "scientific collaboration."
Phase 4 of the project is slated to begin construction this February. This $130 million portion of the project will add 560,050 s.f. of office, laboratory, and research space to the campus in two buildings and will ultimately toss another 1,159 FDA employees from the Office of Regulatory Affairs and the Office of the Commissioner into the FDA party mix.relocate to White Oak, uniting at long last the likes of Center for Devices and Radiological Health and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and fostering what FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach promised in a 2008 Consolidation Report will be a new spirit of "scientific collaboration."
Bids for subcontractors are scheduled to be released any day. Until then, FDA Press Officer Chris Kelly tells DCMud that the FDA will be keeping mum "about the construction project, as it is procurement sensitive."
Silver Spring real estate development news
Silver Spring real estate development news
2 comments:
Yes, huge construction and lots of new people--certainly a much needed boon for the White Oak area. Too bad most people who work there will use their cars to get to/from work and to any place to eat lunch around there. Wasted opportunity to have done a mixed use facility.
Let's hope that this giant, isolated complex will deliver on its promise of "synergies" among the FDA's various components, for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, a well-proven "virtuous circle" synergy--that of creating transit-oriented, mixed-use development--has been completely overlooked.
Moreover, one has to assume (since nothing is mentioned in the article) that the huge, new complex doesn't have any other significant sustainable/"green" design elements either.
Very, very sad that such a big investment in the future of one facet of life (food & drugs) would so utterly ignore the future of other facets (like, say, the habitability of the Earth itself).
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