Ground Broken on Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s $131M Office Building in Suburban D.C.

May 18, 2010
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

There’s nothing like having the federal government as a tenant to keep a development project on track. North Bethesda Center Office One L.L.C., a joint venture involving Berwyn, Pa.-based LCOR and San Antonio, Tex.-based USAA Real Estate Company, just broke ground on a $131 million, 362,000-square-foot office build-to-suit in North Bethesda, Md., that will house approximately 1,500 employees of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Known as Three White Flint North, the 14-story office tower will sit across from the White Flint Metro station within the 32-acre North Bethesda Center mixed-use development, which is being built approximately 20 miles north of Washington, D.C., by master developer LCOR. The sprawling mixed-use property sits on land leased from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority under a program that promotes the construction of transit-oriented projects around Metro stations. Three White Flint North, the first of four office facilities that will sprout up at North Bethesda Center, is designed by architectural firm HOK, and will adhere to LEED Silver certification standards. NRC will occupy the building under a 15-year lease agreement with the joint venture.

For NRC, Three White Flint North will allow the agency to consolidate all of its employees in what will be a three-structure White Flint-area headquarters. Presently, NRC’s 3,000-employee headquarters staff is spread out between the agency’s current White Flint digs and several interim buildings in North Bethesda, Bethesda and neighboring Rockville. “One of the many lessons learned from the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, was the importance of having staff work closely together to facilitate coordination and effective, timely communications,” Gregory B. Jaczko, NRC Chairman, said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Turner Construction is on board the project as general contractor and is on track to complete Three White Flint North in August 2012.