D.C. officials scored a victory with a commitment from National Public Radio to stay inside the District as it relocates to a bigger space.
NPR had narrowed down its choices to NoMa, the North of Massachusetts Avenue development area in Northeast, the ballpark area and Silver Spring.
“There are businesses within the city’s boundaries that are so important to the fabric of the community … NPR is one of those businesses,” said Mayor Adrian Fenty Wednesday at a news conference announcing the deal.
“Our hearts were always here in the District,” said NPR Chief Executive Officer Ken Stern. The company, now located near Chinatown, will join XM and CNN in what’s shaping up as a “media corridor” in the NoMa neighborhood.
A tax abatement package valued at $40 million won the company over. Under the agreement, the tax rate on the new location will be fixed at its current level for 20 years even though the building there will be expanded. The tax rate on NPR’s current building will also remain the same until the group moves out, said Neil Albert, D.C.’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development. The District also promised streetscape improvements around the New York Avenue Metro station.
NPR will move to the old Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company warehouse at 1111 North Capitol St. Built in 1927, about 78,000 square feet out of the 165,000 square-foot total will be preserved. A new 10-story structure will be added, bringing the total to more than 400,000 square feet. Groundbreaking is slated for spring 2009, and completion for 2012. The building will feature a 60,000 square-foot newsroom and be open to the public for live broadcasts and lectures, said Stern.
Silver Spring had offered an attractive incentive package, said NPR Chief Financial Officer Jim Elder, but the “economics were not sufficiently different to be persuaded.” NPR still would have had to maintain a small bureau in downtown Washington, Elder said. About 600 of NPR’s 800 worldwide employees are housed in D.C. The new property allows for growth for the next 20 years, at which point NPR may have 1,000 to 1,100 employees, said Elder.
