FCC New HQ Will Take 2 Years to Build, With Incoming Administration Deciding on Design

Moving an approximately 1,600 person federal agency is a massive undertaking that's likely to cause some disruption for the commission and its frequent visitors, and it will be a considerable focus of FCC staff in the coming years, said real estate and office moving professionals, as well as the FCC staff that oversaw the commission's last move. “It's a huge effort that involves all the bureaus and offices,” said former FCC Managing Director Andy Fishel, who ran the effort to move to the Portals under then-Chairman Bill Kennard. It's also “a wonderful opportunity” to “refresh” the workspace design to how the commission operates now, Fishel said.

The offices will be in an 11-story building in Washington's NoMa neighborhood, near Union Station. The “build-to-suit” structure hasn't been constructed, but its exterior and structural elements are fully designed, said an official connected with the project. The FCC will occupy the third through the 10th floors, part of the second floor, and part of the first floor, which will feature the high ceilings requested in the General Services Administration's request for bids (see 1604070066) and is likely where commissioners' meetings will be held. The building's remaining space will be used by other office tenants, and possibly dining and retail, the official familiar with the project told us. The FCC will be in Sentinel Square III. I and II are already constructed. Sentinel Square II will be the new home of the Federal Election Commission, said a news release from the complex's developer, Trammell Crow. The proximity of FEC and FCC could lead to some messenger confusion, one communications attorney suggested.

The lease on the current FCC building is up in October, so the commission and GSA are expected to reach an agreement with the FCC's current landlord Parcel 49C and its parent Republic Properties to stay in the Portals until the move. Parcel 49C unsuccessfully took the GSA to court in an attempt to force the FCC to stay in the Portals (see 1701050077). A real estate industry official told us the two sides are expected to reach an extension agreement for the FCC to stay at the Portals for three years after the lease's end. Neither the FCC nor GSA would comment on the extension.

The interiors of the offices will be determined through a multi-month design process that will involve Trammell Crow, FCC leadership and likely the input of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents commission employees, real estate industry and former FCC officials told us. Nearly every federal agency that has moved into a redesigned work space in recent years has transitioned from cubicles to a more open, communal workspace, a trend called “densification,” said several real estate industry officials. The commission hasn't begun planning for the interior space of the new building, an FCC spokesman said. “No design work will be possible until blueprints are available, which they are not.”

Lawsuit

A lawsuit slowed progress on the move.

Design work would have been further along by now if it weren't for the suit by Parcel 49C, an official connected with the project told us. GSA was prepared to award the bid to Trammell Crow in April, which likely would have meant the interior design process would have started under now-outgoing Chairman Tom Wheeler and the current FCC. Parcel 49C's suit prevented the bid from being awarded until December.

There's still a lot of possibility for further delays, said Kurt Stout, an executive vice president at Colliers International who negotiates leases with government entities. Often, the federal client's needs can change as the project is underway, requiring work to be redone, Stout said. During the relocation to the Portals, the FCC developed a need to oversee wireless auctions, and space for those uses had to be factored into the project, said Fishel. Union requirements also can prolong the design process, Stout said. Federal agencies have had to redo their entire design to accommodate union needs, Stout said. Trammel Crow is also still going through the permitting process, said an official connected with the project.

The move to the Portals was “disruptive” to FCC staff and operations, said Kennard. The Portals was considered to be a less desirable and convenient location than the FCC's former M St. NW building, and some employees retired rather than make the transition. This move may not be as disruptive, since NoMa is more centrally located than the Portals, Kennard said. The pervasiveness of electronic filing is also likely to soften the blow, he said. Paralegals and physically filing documents was much more common at the time of the FCC's move to the Portals, said broadcast attorney Jack Goodman.

Moving processes for large federal agencies are usually conducted in phases, said JK Moving Services Relocation Manager Rocco Balsamo, who has overseen the moves of other federal agencies and large offices such as The Washington Post's. Though he said it's possible to move a 1,700 person office between a Thursday and Sunday, some characteristics of the FCC likely would make that speedy of a move difficult, such as large amounts of legal records and important computer systems. One thing that might make the move go more quickly is if the FCC doesn’t move its furniture, Balsamo said. Federal agencies typically don't, especially if they're moving to an open workspace, he said. The FCC left the furniture at M St. behind for its move to the Portals, Fishel said.

Because the move to the Portals was phased -- as this one is expected to be -- it was sometimes difficult to determine in which building particular FCC staffers were working, which made lobbying more difficult, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole. Law firms didn't permanently relocate near the Portals after the first move, Cole and other attorneys said. Electronic filing and tight security has made physical proximity to the commission less important, Cole said. There are also fewer “boutique” law firms, and a larger firm would find such a move unwieldy, he said.