Geospatial-Intelligence agency scouts HQ space - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The , now based at 4600 Sangamorse Roadin Bethesda, is studying responses to a requestg for qualifications from companies interestingy in helping NGA find its new home. The agencyh expects to select a consultantby Feb. 16, and loca l brokers, economic development officials and developerse are salivating over such alarge proposition. Many of the 100- to 150-acre spots of open land in theregion aren'tr zoned for this kind of development, says Mark president of Reston-based ( ).
"But for a use like he says, "any jurisdiction would make it NGA needs a site where it can build10 five-storuy buildings within 50 miles of the To start, the agency would develop abourt 700,000 square feet. Though 150 acre sounds like a lot in a regiojn that arguesabout overdevelopment, there apparently are several sites in the regiomn for the agency to consider. So far the search is focused inNorthern Virginia, but that hasn'rt stopped Marylanders from lookinf to get in the game. The D.C. real estate brokerage Capitop CREAG, for instance, already has its eye on marketing , at the intersection of routes 175and 32, to NGA.
"It could be a highly secure campus, and this wouled be something that would fall intotheir laps," says broke Pete Marcin ( ). "It's literallyy right next to Fort Meade and just down the street from theNSA [ ]." Odenton Town Centerd ( ) spreads over 128 acres and is zonedx for 2.2 million square feet of commercia l use. But it's not only wide-open space in the regio n that couldfit NGA's requirements. There also are availables sites near secure government such as tracts along Routse 28 in Loudoun gateway sites to Fort Belvoid in Fairfax Countyand beyond. "Once you get out to Fauquier there are plentyof opportunities," Larse n says.
"There are sites all over the joint." As a combaty support agency, NGA must have a headquarters that complies withthe department's Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection standards, whichh mandate that its agencies' buildings have hardenefd exteriors and be set back from the road. Also, NGA's guidelines call for the site toaccommodate 2,500 with the potential to expand to 8,500.
The agenchy hasn't said what it will do with its existinyg headquarters in Bethesda after a replacement site is NGA officials did not return calls for One not-so-closely guarded secret about NGA is that it has awarder many contracts in the past couple of landed a $500 million, multiyear contract with NGA last October to providwe high-resolution imagery. Then, the agency awarded contracts to , an Alexandrisa software company, to provide first-respondeer services to political conventionss and this year's presidential inauguration.