new FBI Boston headquaters

Paranoia?

If they can't be near residential, they ought to move from FBI HQ in Washington, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which has mid-rise residential nearby.

Feds widen search for FBI Boston site
By Scott Van Voorhis
May 10, 2008

A site for a new headquarters in Boston is still on the FBI?s most wanted list, more than a year after the agency first started its hunt for a new home.

In a sign the agency is struggling to find a suitable location for a new Hub command center, the General Services Administration, which is handling the real estate hunt, has expanded its search zone.

Federal officials are now considering sites throughout Suffolk County, after initially focusing only on sites in or near the Boston?s business district.

Still, the FBI has not given up on sites near downtown, with one key development tract in South Boston?s Fort Point Channel still under consideration, real estate executives said.

But the agency is now also considering proposals from a wider geographic area, one that encompasses all of Boston and its neighboring Suffolk County communities. Overall, the FBI is looking to cut a deal with a developer who will build it a new, 220,000-square-foot Hub headquarters, large enough for hundreds of workers.

Paula Santangelo, a spokeswoman for the GSA, indicated the agency had hoped to have a site picked out at this point.

?I think we certainly expected we could find something the first time,? she said, adding, ?It didn?t happen that way.?

One complicating factor has been the FBI?s extensive security requirements.

The new complex can?t be located in a residential area or placed near railroad tracks, bridges, elevated ramps or overpasses, according to a request for proposals from developers put out by the federal government.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1093020
 
The new complex can?t be located in a residential area or placed near railroad tracks, bridges, elevated ramps or overpasses, according to a request for proposals from developers put out by the federal government.
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So basically nowhere in Boston then.
 
^I know a perfect spot that fits that criteria right here in Assonet!
 
The rest of Suffolk County is just Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Those don't sound any more suitable than Boston. Waltham or Burlington make more sense.
 
Some time ago, The Lindemann & Hurley building, primarily the lower levels of the Hurley were designed to house the Mayors Government Center Police who were later absorbed into the State Police. There is still a shooting range down there that is currently being used for storage.
 
I heard that an RFP was released last year with requirements on what the FBI is looking for in a location. Does anyone know where I can find this elusive RFP?
 
FBI delays search for new HQ, renews current lease

Boston Business Journal - by Michelle Hillman
Friday, October 31, 2008

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is slowing down its hunt for a new, 250,000-square-foot headquarters and is keeping its plans a secret.

Besides pushing the deadline for the second round of proposals back about a month, the government agency has renewed its lease for 100,000 square feet at Center Plaza near Boston?s Government Center, according to sources. The 3 1/2-year lease was renewed with its current landlord, Equity Office Properties Trust, and is meant to be a short-term fix until the agency decides where it will move, said a real estate source with knowledge of the lease.

The FBI previously considered development sites on D Street and at Channel Center in Boston?s Fort Point Channel, but neither of those sites are in the running, according to real estate sources. Calls to the Boston office of the U.S. General Services Administration, which is in charge of the FBI?s search, did not return repeated calls for comment.

?There?s really no discussion going on with the FBI,? said Richard Galvin, president of Commonwealth Ventures LLC, which owns Channel Center. Galvin declined to comment any further.

The FBI also has considered a site in Chelsea that is owned by ACS Development Corp. and a site in South Boston that developer Timothy Pappas, of Pappas Enterprises Inc., leases on E Street from the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Executives at ACS Development in Chelsea and Pappas Enterprises? South Boston office did not return calls for comment.

The FBI has instructed developers not to speak to anyone about its interest in land or development sites. Mayor Thomas M. Menino previously pushed Fan Pier on the South Boston Waterfront as a location for a new FBI stronghold.

Fan Pier was reportedly ruled out because it did not meet the FBI?s strict requirements that include extensive security measures, parking located separate from the building and set backs from the building.

While both South Boston and Chelsea would provide the FBI with easy access to Logan International Airport, the location needs to be one that could be customized for the FBI, said David Begelfer, chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

?The key for them is they need a stand-alone property that gives them the kind of security they need,? Begelfer said.

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