Washington, D.C., October 4, 2007… Just as global real estate developer Tishman Speyer breaks ground on an ultra-modern 347,000 square foot office building in the NoMA (North of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) in Washington, D.C., Federal government employees have completed their move into the new U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters at New York and Florida Avenues, N.E.“The NoMA neighborhood, just north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station, is rapidly becoming a daily destination for thousands of office workers as it transforms into a 24/7 mixed-use community,” said Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMA BID. “With three million square feet of new development underway this year, ATF employees will soon be joined by new offices, apartments, hotels, and retail space.”

Construction of the ATF building, designed by internationally known architect Moshe Safdie, kicked off development of the NoMA neighborhood when it broke ground several years ago, along with the New York Avenue Metro station next door. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) had to demolish an abandoned railroad trestle and remediate nearly 80,000 tons of contaminated soil from the site’s former use as a public works yard. GSA also rebuilt portions of First, Second, and N Streets, N.E. that had been closed for a century, providing access to the ATF building, the Metro station, and adjacent parcels slated for private sector development.

The ATF building, which is expected to achieve a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council, has dramatic architectural features such as a 95-foot-high atrium, green roofs, a sunken garden with a reflecting pool, and a courtyard with a memorial honoring those who died in service to ATF and its predecessor agencies. Curving around the garden is an imposing structure that is reminiscent of a Roman aqueduct. An 8,000 square foot accessory building adjacent to the Metro station will house shops and restaurants that will be open to the public early next year.

Another bold architectural statement will be made with the first phase of Tishman Speyer’s 707,000 square foot trophy-quality speculative office complex at 1100 First Street, N.E. Also planned for a Silver LEED rating, 1100 First Street will introduce the innovative architectural design concepts of Chicago-based Krueck & Sexton Architects to the Nation’s Capital. Krueck & Sexton, known for its creative interior design of Herman Miller stores nationwide, is teaming with locally-based Gensler to create irregularly shaped buildings cloaked in curtain wall with textured glass that maximizes incoming light. The 12-story office building is currently leasing and will be ready for occupancy in 2009.

NoMA is an exciting emerging mixed-use neighborhood north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in the Nation’s capital. Private developers are investing more than $1 billion this year alone with plans to develop over 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space in the area covered by the NoMA BID over the next 20 years. For more information about the BID, including a development pipeline map, see the BID Website at http://nomabid.wpengine.com.