Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401130077
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke architectural and engineering company's part in designing the first major remodeling of the Pentagon could mean $25 million to $35 million in new economic activity for the Roanoke Valley, a company official said.
The job will mean $5 million in wages to Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern's employees in Roanoke, said Cecil Doyle, the company's executive vice president. The impact of that money could be five to seven times greater as it makes its way through the local economy, he said.
Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern has hired 30 additional professional employees over the past eight months in anticipation of winning the Pentagon contract, Doyle said. The company's total employment now stands at 354, with 200 of them in Roanoke.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, joined Doyle at the company's office on Franklin Road on Wednesday to provide details of the contract.
"The Pentagon is a symbol of America's strength and greatness . . . This first Pentagon renovation is truly a historic undertaking," Goodlatte said.
Besides creating new jobs, he said, "Our valley's profile will also be raised in many business circles across the United States as a result of one of our successful businesses winning such a prestigious contract."
The Pentagon, which houses military offices including those of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the world's largest office building, with 6.6 million square feet of space. The portion Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern will design contains 1.1 million square feet and encompasses the building's southwest corner.
The total project, the Pentagon's first major overhaul in its 50-year history, is expected to run through 2002 and cost $1.2 billion. Work on the heating and refrigeration plant and the two-story basement area has begun.
The construction cost of the renovation phase designed by Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern has been estimated at $120 million.
The job will involve gutting the interior of one-fifth of the five-story, five-sided building and rebuilding it to modern, high-tech standards. "It will basically be a `smart' building when renovation is complete," Doyle said.
Total price of the design work is $9 million, some of which will go to subcontractors.
The Roanoke company began getting acquainted with the building two weeks ago. It has 18 months to finish the design. Construction is expected to take 16 months.
Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern's Washington-area office will work on the project, but all the design drawings will be done in Roanoke.
Doyle said the company had been working for two years to land the contract and described it as a real coup.
Thirty other design firms competed when bids were advertised in March, he said. That field was narrowed first to seven firms and then to three. Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern was a finalist with firms from Detroit and New York.
The bidders were judged on the basis of past performance and qualifications. Once his firm was selected, it negotiated the price of the contract, Doyle said.
The selection also puts pressure on the firm to do a good job and keep the government happy. Doyle said the firm plans to compete for design contracts for later phases of the renovation.
"It's a very high-profile project; there's a lot at stake here," he said.
Hayes Seay Mattern and Mattern's previous design projects in the Washington area include a $90 million renovation of the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History and American History museums.
The company, owned by 34 internal stockholders, expects the sale of its services this year to generate revenues of $28 million, Doyle said.
by CNB