North Phoenix Site Selected for New FBI Headquarters

There was an article in the Phoenix Business Journal the other day that caught my attention. It said that the Phoenix division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has chosen a site in North Phoenix to build its new headquarters.

The new building will be constructed on the southeast corner of 7th Street and Deer Valley Road, just east of Deer Valley Airport and across the street from the Lone Cactus Landfill. It's pretty cool to know that this unassuming patch of desert will one day house one of the most high-tech crime-fighting organizations in the State of Arizona.

With a projected size of 210,000 square feet, the building will be large enough to consolidate the Phoenix FBI's four separate locations into one central building, plus allow room for future expansion. This move will help to cut operating costs and improve communication dramatically. There are a total of eight different jurisdictions of the FBI in Arizona, with the Phoenix division being the largest.

The contract for the project has been awarded to the Ryan Companies, a Minnesota-based firm that will handle the design and construction of the building in addition to operating and maintaining it for the next 20 years.

The Ryan Companies has a regional office in Downtown Phoenix and a portfolio of over 50 completed projects in the State of Arizona alone. They specialize in large commercial and office buildings and have worked on projects such as the Phelps Dodge Tower, Chase Field, and the highly visible headquarters of TASER International in North Scottsdale.

Like several of the company's recent projects, the North Phoenix FBI office will also be designed to meet LEED environmental standards. No doubt this will present a unique challenge to the designers as the building will also need to conform to the Interagency Security Committee's strict security guidelines regarding federal buildings.As construction of the new headquarters begins later this year, I will be sure to keep you updated with any additional news and hopefully some photos of what I anticipate will be a very unique looking building.