Features: What We Build — September/October 2005

Green Thumb

AGC Moves into New Energy-Efficient Offices:

AGC of America's new headquarters will be housed in the Navy League Building, the first LEED-certified office building ever constructed in Arlington, Va.

By Tony Illia

AGC of America will occupy 24,000 sq ft inside the Navy League's new 214,000-sq-ft Class A office building in Arlington.

A sleek new "green" building is helping redevelop the courthouse district in Arlington, Va., while providing energy-efficient office space as the new home of the Associated General Contractors of America.

The seven-story, 214,000-sq-ft Class A office building at 2300 Wilson Blvd. is being developed by the Navy League, a 77,000-member nonprofit group that supports the maritime branches of the U.S. military.

AGC signed a 10-year lease with two five-year options to occupy 24,000 sq ft inside the new state-of-the-art building and provided a $7-million loan toward its construction. The 120-ft-tall building replaces AGC's previous Arlington headquarters at 333 John Carlyle St., where it occupied 25,000 sq ft for six years. The construction cost for the new building is $27.6 million.

"The fact that we were able to design our own space from scratch meant improved efficiencies," says Dave Lukens, AGC's chief operating officer. "We feel like this a central location that is much closer to many of the agencies we work with."

AGC will complete a phased move-in by Oct. 3, occupying most of the fourth floor with 70 staff members. Its Washington, D.C., chapter will also share space under a five-year, 1,500-sq-ft sublease arrangement.

The building contractor was James G. Davis Construction Corp., Rockville, Md., with New York City-based Turner Construction Co. performing AGC's five-month, $900,000 tenant build-out under a lump-sum contract. Turner's work consisted of placing drywall, framing, painting, mechanical, electrical, HVAC and fire systems, says Adriano Nino, Turner's senior project manager.

Designed by WDG Architecture PLLC, Washington D.C., the space consists of 50 offices, a lunchroom, storage space and three conference rooms. There also is a dramatic lobby outfitted with terrazzo flooring, custom millwork and accent lighting.

LEED Accreditation

The new structure is Arlington County's first office building to achieve a Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design silver rating. In return for the project achieving the rating, the county allowed it 12,000 sq ft more space than normally permitted for the site, giving the owner additional rentable income.

The county required a $250,000 bond to guarantee the building achieved the LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The county also requested that a consultant oversee the process and report on the progress being made. MTFA Architecture Inc., Arlington, was hired as a LEED submission consultant, along with CH2M-Hill Cos. Ltd., Denver, Colo., as commissioning agent. While green construction costs about $1 per sq ft more than a normal office building, the life-cycle savings from improved operational efficiencies are expected to recoup the expense.

The Navy League had owned an aging four-story, 20,000-sq-ft office building at the Wilson Boulevard address and wanted to grow. But the 1.3-acre city block had two other property owners, with a county parking lot on one side and commercial townhouses holding law offices on the other.

"The land was too valuable not to combine the three lots," says Bill Keech, president of the Keech Co., Arlington, which served as the owner's representative. "We realized the expense in acquiring land could be offset if we could get additional densities, which factored in our decision to construct a 'green' building."

The Navy League purchased the county's 19,840-sq-ft lot for $3 million and agreed to give the attorney 13,000-sq-ft of rentable office space in exchange for his property. With a consolidated 49,273-sq-ft site, Davis Construction began work under a guaranteed maximum price contract.

The parallelogram-shaped block is bordered by Wilson and Claredon boulevards and North Wayne and North Adams streets in a commercial/residential area of Arlington. That meant the contractor faced county-mandated noise restrictions, work hours and delivery lanes.

"The restrictions meant that we had to stage steel, concrete and material deliveries using specific lane routing so as not to disrupt traffic," says David Purdy, Davis Construction's project manager.

Plans called for a four-level, 358-space cast-in-place underground parking garage, which meant 60,000 cu yd of excavation and eight months of dewatering. The contractor also had to remove 5,000 cu yd of petroleum-contaminated soils as well as underground storage tanks.

Additional shoring and site regrading were needed to accommodate the Metro's Orange line running under the site. The nearest station is only a block away.

In order to meet LEED goals, the contractor implemented an onsite program where 75% of the construction waste was recycled. This included an awareness campaign with regular subcontractor meetings and enforcement to ensure materials were being separated and reused. "There was a significant amount of policing on the project," says Hasan Alsayegh, Davis Construction's assistant project manager. "In some instances, we would have people dive into the dumpster to retrieve an item that wasn't properly sorted."

Other sustainable components include an underground stormwater collection system used for flushing toilets and irrigating trees and shrubs. When combined with the nonpotable-water toilets and high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, the building's potable water use is 60% less than a normal building.

HVAC systems and an Energy Star-rated roof helped reduce energy consumption by 20%. And more than 20% of the project's materials and subcontractors came from within a 500-mile radius of the project.

Low-emission adhesives, paints and carpets are used throughout, and 50% of the wood-based products are certified under Forest Stewardship Council guidelines to reduce waste.

Design and Structure

Designed by Houston-based architect PageSoutherlandPage LLP, the steel-framed building rests atop a spread-footing foundation with concrete-over-metal decking floors. The exterior is clad with glass and precast panels detailed with gridlines that both accent and minimize the shape of the building.

"The panels have a pinkish tinge with a subtle color change from light beige to off-white," says Ben Webne, PageSoutherlandPage's project designer and construction administrator. "The floor plates are offset to lower the building's profile while creating balconies at each level."

The building's approval process included community design charettes, which contributed to its stepped profile so as not to obstruct neighbors' views. It also added amenities such as 30,000 sq ft of ground-level retail space, a fitness center, landscaped plaza and 3,000-sq-ft community conference facility.

The two-story lobby features a grand staircase and a dramatic glass wall by Vancouver-based Joel Berman Glass Studios Ltd. The 1,200-lb architectural glass wall consists of six 9-ft-tall by 4.5-ft-wide cast panels that were assembled onsite.

The building will house 11 to 15 tenants, with office lease rates averaging $35 per sq ft, triple-net. Lincoln Property Co., Dallas, is the property manager; Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services is the office leasing agent; and Asadoorian Retail Solutions, Washington, D.C., is responsible for the retail areas.

The Navy League's 50-person staff will occupy 20,000 sq ft on the second floor of the unique structure. "We wanted a building that would satisfy our needs for additional space while better serving our constituency," says Howard Siegel, the Navy League's senior finance director. "This is going to be our home for the next 100 years, so we wanted to set a high standard by constructing the county's first silver LEED-certified building."