MidAtlantic City Scoop: Construction Starts in Washington

Mid-Atlantic City Scoop: Washington — Total Construction Spending Expected to Dip By Almost 3.4% This Year

Balfour Beatty’s MidAtlantic team has annual revenue of approximately $600 million. During the past five years, the division has completed or is currently working on more than $3.4 billion in projects. They include the recently completed National Science Foundation headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

*IMAGE BY ADRIAN WILSON, COURTESY BALFOUR BEATTY.*

Projects such as The Conrad Washington, D.C., hotel are helping fulfill former Mayor Anthony Williams’ development plans.

*IMAGE COURTESY THE DISTRICT WHARF COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION*

City Grill

Andrea Rutledge
President & CEO
Construction Management Association of America

Rutledge says real estate has been Washington, D.C.’s main industry since 1800—from surveying and buying to selling and development. But she says the city has a history of sitting on recommendations from urban planners for years. It took 100 years to realize Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plan for Judiciary Square and more than 30 to implement the 1902 McMillan Plan for the National Mall. Former Mayor Anthony Williams’ development plans laid out in the 2000s have been “realized more quickly,” she says.

Named CMAA president and CEO in August, Rutledge points to projects that are drawing residents, retailers and visitors such as the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Conrad Washington, D.C., hotel. The project team is seeking LEED-Silver certification for the 350,000-sq-ft, 360-room facility. Another prominent project is The Wharf, a $2-billion mixed-use development on the city’s southwest waterfront. Officials are expected to break ground on the project’s second phase in the middle of this year and are aiming for a 2022 completion. “If the continued proliferation of construction cranes across the D.C. skyline is anything to go by,” Rutledge says, “the cycle of surveying, buying, selling and developing will continue in the years to come.”

Firm in Focus

Balfour Beatty
11325 Random Hills Road, Ste. 500, Fairfax, Va.
MidAtlantic Division President: Mike Phillips
Employees: 260
Founded: 1933
Regional Focus: Balfour Beatty’s MidAtlantic team has annual revenue of approximately $600 million. During the past five years, the division has completed or is currently working on more than $3.4 billion in projects. They include the recently completed National Science Foundation headquarters in Alexandria, Va. The facility’s 15-story east wing and 19-story west wing are joined by a 15-story building clad in curtain wall. That building is set back from the other two, creating the illusion that they are separate structures. Balfour Beatty constructed the base building and completed all tenant work. The firm provides general contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build services in the public and private sectors. The company works in a variety of markets, including multifamily housing, hospitality, office, retail and health care.