ARLINGTON, Va. - Construction projects at the National Guard Bureau's two readiness centers will be completed by 2011 allowing the Guard's joint staff to move out of a leased high-rise here in Crystal City.
Jefferson Plaza 1 has been the bureau's official location since August 1998. But the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure law required NGB's joint staff elements to move nearly 1,200 Guardmembers, federal workers and contractors.
The Air Guard Readiness Center's expansion project at Andrews Air Force Base is in full swing. The final batches of cement are being poured into the steel structure that connects the new building to the older Conaway Hall.
The $52 million project is scheduled to be completed in less than a year.
Construction of the four-story complex, which began in November 2007, is proceeding on schedule and on budget. "It's about 40 percent complete," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, the center's commander.
Planners said in less than 10 months office furniture will be carried in and occupants will get a look at their new space.
The enormous crane that lifted the bulk of the building into place during the winter was disassembled last week, giving the structure prominence over the base's northeast tree line.
"That was a good sign of progress," said Lengyel.
By September 2011, more than 1,400 Citizen-Airmen, federal workers and contractors will occupy the campus.
As a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) project, the readiness center will be one of the Air Guard's most sustainable, livable and energy-efficient buildings.
Lengyel said the Air Guard's directorate offices in Arlington will join the existing directorates at Andrews, allowing him to have all of his staff within walking distance.
"I can't think of any single thing since I've been commander that has been more challenging for the organization to work together [than] being in two separate locations," he said. "This one single event will do more to bring unity of effort toward any number of projects when we are all out here as one organization."
Lengyel and his Airmen support the Air Guard's day-to-day operations of 88 flying units and 579 mission support units, their states' governors and adjutants general. They also run a 24/7 Crisis Action Team, which coordinates use of the Air Guard's assets with state and federal agencies.
"It will soon be one-stop-shopping for the field, so they will be happy, too," he said.
Ben Lawless, the chief of the engineering division in the Air Guard's Installation and Mission Support directorate, said the final push into the new space is being planned deliberately.
Pointing to an artist's rendering of the finished expansion on his wall, he said, "We don't want people moving twice."
"It's more a campus program where we move those here into the new building, do renovations in the old building and move people into that space."
The project includes administrative offices, conference spaces and a cafeteria.
Built in 1985, the ANGRC's Conaway Hall is named after retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John B. Conaway, a former chief of the National Guard Bureau, who advocated for the readiness center.
"The vision we had a long time ago is coming true," said Lawless.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Potomac, construction is just getting underway on an expansion at the Army National Guard Readiness Center (ARNGRC).
Thousands of tons of dirt were dug out of the ground next to the existing ARNGRC to make a foundation for a new building and parking garage.
The 15-acre complex is the location of the former Arlington Hall Station. It was rededicated in April 1993 at a cost of $38 million.
Prior to that, its staff members were located in the Pentagon and other office space throughout the National Capital Region.
When completed, the current $98 million addition to the ARNGRC will provide 250,000 square feet of office space for the National Guard Bureau and its joint staff of Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen, who will move out of JP-1.
"The design of the building and its proximity to the ARNGRC lends itself to the communicate, coordinate and collaborate vision that General McKinley [chief of the National Guard Bureau] has expressed for the National Guard," said Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward, director of the Guard Bureau's Joint Staff.
"It also provides the force protection enhancements that we frankly do not get at JP-1," he said.
Officials said the project is nearly 8 percent complete since the official groundbreaking just five months ago.
"We started construction right about Thanksgiving time," said Army Lt. Col. Rodney M. Graham, program manager for the construction project.
He said workers are currently excavating and laying underground utilities.
Three floors of the addition and three levels of the parking garage will be underground, which adds up to a lot of soil removal. "Thirty to 50 dump trucks carry dirt away from the job-site each day," Graham said.
The office space will focus on LEED standards, much like the ANGRC expansion, which includes the use of natural and automatic lighting.
Sustainable, cost effective, energy conservation features will also be incorporated into the design. Along with office space, it will feature an auditorium and conference and training rooms. The multi-level garage will add several hundred parking spaces to the existing 640-vehicle garage.
The first moves into the new facility will begin the fall of 2010, said Graham. "We hope to build exactly what they need so they can do their jobs."