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SEC Moves Into Station Place

First Tenant Sets Up Shop in Capitol Hill Complex

Barring any weekend move-in difficulties, the massive office structure northeast of Union Station known as Station Place will have its first occupant today, as the new Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters there will open for business.

On Friday, the first 200 of what will eventually be 2,100 employees of the SEC’s Washington bureau began moving into one of two new office buildings in Station Place, located at the corner of Second and F street Northeast.

According to SEC officials, the first building of Station Place should be fully up and running by June, while the second building will start being occupied during the first quarter of 2006. The phased move-in is taking place floor by floor, and SEC spokeswoman Amy Best said the commission’s public affairs department would be one of the first groups to set up shop in the new facility.

Billed by developer Louis Dreyfus Property Group as one of the largest private office development projects in the District, Station Place will eventually encompass three 10-story buildings on 5.5 acres of land with 1.6 million total square feet of office space. The buildings will also include three levels of underground parking for up to 1,184 cars.

All told, the SEC will eventually occupy more than 1 million square feet of office space in the first two buildings of Station Place.

SEC Executive Director Jim McConnell said the new Capitol Hill location had several draws, not the least of which was that it won a competition for price.

Planning for the SEC’s Station Place move has gone on for the past three years, and in that time the commission has increased its staff by about 25 percent.

“We needed more space,” McConnell said.

The new facility will also place the commission’s entire headquarters program in one location for the first time in several years. Currently the SEC occupies two main facilities in downtown Washington. The amenities and transportation opportunities offered by Union Station were also big draws, McConnell said.

Bob Braunohler, vice president of Louis Dreyfus, said construction will begin on Station Place’s third building, which will occupy 505,000 feet of office space, “as soon as we get a lead tenet.”

Braunohler said that there has been no decision yet on who might occupy the third building but that the Justice Department has expressed some interest in the location.

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