NASA Headquarters Building Lease and Renovation Project

Special Announcements

• Passenger Elevator 7 in the East lobby will be used by construction personnel Monday – Friday during the hours of 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Elevator 5 in the West lobby will be used Monday – Friday and weekends during the hours of 7:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.
  
  
• 9th floor off limits to employees, rooftop terrace can be accessed using stairwells A and D
  
  
• Columbia Café Closed until July 16th

Building Lease

The Office of Headquarters Operations is proud to announce that a new lease agreement for the NASA HQ building at 300 E. Street has been signed with our current landlord, Piedmont.

The current lease with Piedmont was scheduled to end in July 2012. During the summer of 2010, GSA competitively announced the NASA HQ lease renewal to the local Washington D.C. property management industry. As a result of that competition, our current property management company, Piedmont, was offered another 15 year renewal opportunity in our current building. Negotiations on the logistics of the required renovations have been reached, and construction will begin in late 2011.

Lease renewal status from February 23, 2011 town hall presentation, presented by NASA Headquarters Facilities and Administrative Services Division Director Dave Redman.
Download PDF of presentation

Renovation Project UPDATED December 2011

As we move into the building renovation phase of this project, we will be designing a new floor plan using the green design concept endorsed by the NASA Administrator. Piedmont will be performing the construction which will include upgrading the building’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. This is a whole-building renovation, and as such, will affect all occupants within the HQ building.

As part of the renovation agreement, Piedmont has introduced a construction schedule plan which calls for a renovation of each floor, starting in December 2011. In order to ensure the renovation project runs smoothly and is timely and safe, an entire floor must be vacated. Therefore, Piedmont is providing “swing space” located at 1201 I Street, NW (3rd/4th floors) and at 1225 I Street NW (12th floor), Washington, D.C. to house one floors-worth of employee/contractor positions. The Facilities and Administrative Services Division (FASD) used the current 5th floor employee/contractor numbers to calculate the number of personnel to move to the swing space.

FASD asked for NASA HQ organizations to volunteer to move to the swing space for the entire renovation period which is expected to last nearly 3 years. This will allow the remaining organizations to remain in the building. However, each floor must be totally vacated at some point as the renovation project progresses throughout its lifecycle.

Beginning in October 2011*, occupants on the 5th floor will be moved to either the external swing space at I Street or to another location within the HQ building. The 5th floor will then be renovated, beginning in December 2011, and used as internal swing space. Beginning with the 9th floor and working down to the concourse level, occupants will be moved to the internal swing space on the 5th floor while their respective floor is being renovated.

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)

Piedmont is required to bring this building up to the minimum level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Commercial Interiors Certified. However, we are striving for a Silver certification, and NASA must do its part in supporting this effort. Achieving LEED certification provides verification that our building is renovated using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. We call it our "green plan."

The green plan will move all window offices away from the exterior walls to the interior of the building. This will create a 4-foot eco corridor around each floor, meaning there will be no window offices at all. Future offices will be constructed using frosted full glass panels and fabric panels 65” high with glass to the ceiling, along with the current legacy demountable partitions. There will also be the addition of two galleys at the East and West ends of the building, which will allow natural light to flow through each floor and assist with LEED certification. Another aspect of the renovation is bringing this building into compliance with the current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which includes 44" corridors and 5' turning circles at the end of each corridor.

Periodic Updates

FASD continues to develop plans and schedules, and provide periodic briefings to management about how the entire renovation process will be accomplished. In order to keep employees informed, we have put together this Web page to allow NASA employees to monitor the progress and efforts of this very high visible project. Our Frequently Asked Questions will be monitored and updated when new information is available.

Key Contacts: Jerry Gloster, 358-1135