GW's New Science and Engineering Building Breaks Ground

Tomorrow night, a ground breaking ceremony will kick off three years of construction by Clark on the new $275-million, 400,000-s.f., 8-story Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) for George Washington University's Foggy Bottom campus. GW hopes the new facility will "strengthen the university’s reputation as a premier research institution."

Following a bolstered reputation will be the return of a portion of the building's costs in the form of future grants and contracts supporting faculty research, foresees the university. The rest of the $275 million will be generated through Boston Properties' Square 54 ground lease, as well as philanthropic gifts.

Over the summer, demolition of what was the university's parking garage took place on the site at 22nd and H Streets, NW. Removal of the demolished chunks of concrete will continue for a couple weeks, allowing sheeting, shoring and excavation work to be underway soon.

The building, the design work of Ballinger Architects and Hickok Cole, will rise 8 stories, and go down 6, with 2 stories of program space and 4 stories of parking below grade. The complex will be ready for occupancy — by five Science and Engineering departments and also four Columbian College of Arts and Sciences departments — in 2015.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

GW Construction Begins: High-Minded Inside, Visible From the Outside

George Washington University (GW) is beginning work on its new Science and Engineering Complex in Foggy Bottom, with approval from the D.C. Zoning Commission secured this week. Though the site has been bustling with pre-construction activities for the last month, construction on the site can now officially move forward along with demolition of the parking garage at the corner of H and 22nd St., NW.

The parking garage was shut for good on May 20th, having waited until spring finals were completed on May 15th, when coeds cleared out for the summer. Demolition of the two garages, along with Building K, will take place throughout the summer – from July to September – followed by excavation, sheeting, shoring and foundation work to be staged in phases for the next year and a half. Two years of above-grade construction on the 400,000-square-foot, 8-story structure will busy the site throughout 2013 and 2014, before building occupancy can take place, if all goes well, in January of 2015.

By that time the $275m building, in keeping with GW's goal of densifying the campus, will feature 6 underground floors (2 for program space and 4 for parking, offering 370 spaces) and 50 percent more engineering and science space, as well as significant retail space, in keeping with GW's vision to make the area more retail friendly.

The green aspects, designing by Philly-based Ballinger Architects, have already been touted: the LEED silver project will become “the largest source of on-site solar power in the District of Columbia.” The interior lay-out proposes to encourage collaboration by intermingling schools of thought – mixing five Science and Engineering departments with four from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences— currently spread across more than a dozen buildings on campus, and also varying levels of academic achievement: freshmen, PhDs, post-docs and faculty will rub elbows.

Metro riders are less apt to get excited about the idea of rubbing elbows in transport, while getting in and out of the one-entrance Metro station on the same block. Worries have been expressed in the past regarding the net loss of 880 parking spots, compounded by the newly completed Square 54 project – a.k.a The Avenue – on Washington Circle. The Avenue includes over 1,000 parking spots, but adds 335 rental units, 440,000 s.f. of office space, and over 80,000 s.f. of retail space, including a supermarket, one block away.

A call for a second Foggy Bottom Metro access went out by a few area residents in October of last year, and the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan requires that GW leave the area on the corner of 22nd and I St vacant, potentially for a future entrance.

Don’t look for an entrance there soon; WMATA published a study – “Foggy Bottom-GWU Station Second Entrance Demand Analysis” – in 2007 which concluded that the current one-entrance configuration of the Metro at Foggy Bottom was sufficient to handle the projected 15-percent increase in ridership through 2030. Steven Taubenkibel, WMATA Public Information Officer, used this study as supporting evidence when he confirmed that there were no plans currently in the works to add a second entrance.

Additional parking options on campus currently include space at South Hall now, and in mid-2012 an underground parking facility on the 2000 block of G Street. In the meantime, GW has raised the idea of “temporary offsite parking for GW staff at a discounted rate at the Kennedy Center, with shuttle service offered to and from [campus].”

The $275 million project – the biggest ever on GW’s campus – has been in the works since 2006 and was unanimously approved by the GW Board of Trustees in October of 2010. A significant amount of funds for the project are expected to come back in the form of revenue from Square 54/The Avenue lease payments from Boston Properties; the bulk of tenants will occupy their space this summer.

The design will feature a high bay area dedicated to high-impact, large-scale experimentation that will be cloaked to outsiders only by glass; the wonders of science and engineering will be on display to 23rd Street passersby. The high bay area will have direct access to a loading dock and a crane will be on hand to heft up to 20 tons around the facility. In addition to the high bay space, four additional research facilities will be incorporated into the SEC.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

GW to Add Science Building and Go Solar

George Washington University has another construction project in the works. Thanks to funding from Square 54 and low construction costs from favorable market conditions, the university has approved replacing an 8-story, 1200-space parking garage with an 8-story, 400,000 s.f. science and engineering complex with buried parking. The university also has separate plans to green its residences by adding what it says will be DC's largest single solar power network.

Although the city has not yet approved the science building, GW expects to start the $275m project within a year. The university’s project team includes Philadelphia-based Ballinger Architects, as well as Hickok Cole Architects, Boston Properties as the project manager and Clark Construction for pre-construction services, all of which are working on Square 54. The LEED-Silver designed building will double the space on the GW campus dedicated to science and engineering.

"The board’s decision to build the Science and Engineering Complex marks an important milestone in the development of George Washington into a world-class research university," said GW President Steven Knapp.

The science building, at the corner of 22nd and H streets, NW (see map, above), will feature two levels of below-ground program space, approximately 350 underground parking spaces and a retail venue on the ground floor along Eye Street.

The building is expected to be completed in late 2014 with occupancy expected in early 2015. Project planning has been underway since 2006. GW is using ground lease payments from Square 54 as part of the financing for the new project, and has been working to redistribute the lost parking as part of the Campus Plan, but has yet to release any details about where the 850 lost spaces will go.

At the same time, GW will implement "the largest source of on-site solar power in the District of Columbia," for "thermal" solar power, that is, not photovoltaic cells. The new solar thermal system will heat water for three residence halls, subtracting "about 70 tons of carbon annually," according to the school. The university intends to generate 10 percent of energy from on-campus renewable sources by 2040, and reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2025, and by 80 percent by 2040 when it reaches "carbon neutrality." The remaining carbon emissions will be "mitigated" through the purchase of local offsets, such as planting trees. "This is just one of the very fist steps we are taking" says Michelle Sherrard of GW, of the solar conversion.

Skyline Innovations, a one-year-old Washington D.C.-based solar energy company, will install the solar thermal units on Building JJ, 1959 E Street and Ivory Tower free of charge and sell the hot water the systems produce to the school for a fee tied to the price of natural gas. According to Aaron Block, Director of Market Development for Skyline, the company assures lower energy costs for the user with no start-up costs by guaranteeing a lower-than-market rate for energy, which it finances by retaining the renewable energy credits. That makes Skyline the number one provider of solar energy in DC (it subcontracts installation). GW won't reveal the amount that it saves with its thermal energy conversion.

The system works by converting sunlight to thermal energy via hot water rather than electricity. An array of rooftop panels collect solar energy and convert it to heat. A series of tanks in the basement loop into the rooftop collectors, a heat exchange allows the heat to be converted from the closed-loop system into the public water.

With all the new construction, the GW Hatchet reports that Foggy Bottom residents are angling for a new Metro entrance as the completion of Square 54 adds more users of the single-entrance Metro station.

Washington DC real estate development news