GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Construction has begun on a new office tower and hotel for downtown Grand Rapids.

Rendering of Grand Rapids Hyatt Place

Orion Construction held a groundbreaking Tuesday for the structures which will put a 15-story building and 12-story hotel in the Ellis Parking lot at 150 Ottawa Avenue. The hotel will be a Hyatt Place and The Warner Building will house Warner Norcross & Judd LLP and Chemical Banks West Michigan main office.

The Hyatt Place will also feature a ground-floor restaurant, full-service bar, indoor pool and meeting spaces. The two buildings will share a 430-space parking deck.

The Warner Building will be built first, with the steel equipment being stored in the area where the hotel will be. Once the steel is in place for the office building, Orion will start building the hotel. A 22-story tower crane will be onsite during construction.

The buildings are expected to be open in 2019.

Rendering of The Warner Building

Original post:
Construction begins on new downtown office tower and hotel - Fox17

By Victoria Mitchell

Commissioners were expected to take the next step toward finalizing development agreement documents for a new six-story office building in the existing City Hall parking lot June 26. (Rendering by Krieger Klatt Architects; provided by the city of Royal Oak)

Posted June 26, 2017

ROYAL OAK Commissioners are expected to give their go-ahead Monday night to lawyers tasked with finalizing development agreement documents for a new six-story office building in the existing Royal Oak City Hall parking lot.

The vote to finalize the negotiations for a $36.25 million, Class A 142,523-square-foot building is scheduled for the night of June 26.

The preliminary, agreed-upon document with the Central Park Development Group headed by Ron Boji and Sam Surnow would still have to go before city commissioners for final approval, which the commission estimated would happen in late July or early August.

Commissioners met June 21 inside City Hall for a special workshop to discuss the suggested terms between Royal Oak and the development group. The office building would be built on city-owned property.

Terms included selling the property valued at $900,000 to the Central Park Development Group for $1 and providing a $5.5 million financial ask of the city. The money would not be paid directly to the developer, but rather into an escrow account and accessed by contractors once the Central Park Development Group spends $8.5 million of its own money on the project.

City Manager Don Johnson said the $5.5 million would come from the general fund.

City of Royal Oak Economic Development Manager Todd Fenton said subsidies are a normal part of business in Michigan because the gap between construction prices and the rental market is so large.

The construction costs in Detroit are the same as they are in New York, Fenton said. The difference is, the rents are not the same as they are in New York, and so the scales are tipped.

Independent consultant and Plante Moran CRESA Partner Greg VanKirk said his firm analyzed the construction budget presented by the development group and deemed it reasonable by industry standards.

VanKirk said that after looking at all costs, he determined that $80 per square foot of rentable area would be a reasonable cost for the purposes of the citys negotiations.

VanKirk said rental rates for new, Class A Royal Oak office property is estimated at $30 per square foot. He said that by comparison, Birmingham and Detroit demand about $40 per square foot, and Southfield rates are in the mid to high 20s.

VanKirk explained that after deducting $9 per square foot for operating expenses, that leaves the developers to collect $21 per square foot for 128,353 square feet of rentable area, creating anywhere from a $5 million to $10 million gap in the project, based on a 10 percent rate of return, the per-square-foot cost estimation and other variable factors.

Essentially what we are saying is, the math comes out at roughly a $5 million to $10 million gap to get the appropriate rate of return, he said.

Fenton said another aspect of the project to be taken into consideration is that it is a speculative office building, meaning there is greater risk by the developer because the building has not been leased out prior to construction.

Independent consultant attorney Brandy Mathe, from the law firm of Kerr, Russell and Weber, said the city would be reimbursed for its investments through incremental tax revenue.

According to the term sheet, Central Park Development Group must pay the city back its initial investment in eight years, and if the taxes are not recaptured in that time frame, the group would have to pay the difference to the city. The total amount of all tax revenue generated by the office building must be at least $12.8 million over the first 20 years.

The office building was, at one time, a key component in the citys proposed civic center plan, which when originally envisioned in 2014 and presented in 2016, would have contained a new City Hall on two floors of the Class A building. Class A buildings are the highest-quality buildings.

Since that time, many iterations of the proposed civic center plan have emerged, most recently showing the footprint stretching from Main to Knowles streets and 11 Mile Road to Third Street and including a parking structure, new City Hall building, new Police Department headquarters and central park all of which would be owned and managed by the city.

The office building is also in the footprint and would be owned and managed by the Central Park Development Group.

The other city-managed components of the civic center plan have not been finalized or approved; however, the office building deal is contingent upon the parking deck construction, eventual current City Hall demolition and central park creation.

Fenton said the office building helps the city reach a goal recommended by the downtown task force in 2014 to bring 180,000 square feet of Class A office space into the downtown by 2020, along with creating 1,000 jobs to establish daytime foot traffic.

This would position Royal Oak for the future, he said.

Fenton said the Central Park Development Group office building would bring about 700 jobs to the building and produce an annual economic impact of $234 million. Fenton said the 18-month construction phase alone is anticipated to create more than 500 jobs with an economic impact of $74 million.

The rest of the region would be positively impacted by this project, he said.

On May 9, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional site plan and a special use permit for the Central Park Development Groups office building.

During the June 21 workshop, commissioners said they hosted the special workshop prior to Mondays regular meeting so that residents could express their input beforehand or be better informed to comment with their support and/or concerns during the June 26 public comment. One resident attended the workshop.

About the author

Staff Writer Victoria Mitchell covers Royal Oak and Clawson along with Royal Oak and Clawson school districts. Mitchell has worked for C & G Newspapers since 2014 and attended the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Wayne State University. She is a Michigan Press Association award-winner for writing, design and general excellence and in her spare time enjoys volunteering with the Girl Scouts of America.

Full bio and more articles by this reporter

For more local news coverage, see the following newspaper:

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City expected to advance 6-story office building plans - C&G Newspapers

Sovereign Partners and JLL have announced the upcoming construction of a new office building at Grace Lake Corporate Center, an office park at One Village Center Drive in Van Buren Township, Michigan, in the Detroit market.

The new building will have about 150,000 square feet of space available for lease beginning in late 2018.

This speculative project would mark one of the first new Class-A office buildings of its size the Detroit market has seen in more than 15 years.

JLL is the exclusive leasing agent of Grace Lake Corporate Center. A.J. Weiner, managing director at JLL, and Anne Knopke, vice president at JLL, will represent the property throughout the leasing process.

Originally built in 2004, Grace Lake Corporate Center also has up to 800,000 square feet of build-to-suit land for future construction opportunities. The property is the closest Class-A office facility to the Detroit Metro Airport with easy highway access to downtown Detroit, Ann Arbor, Toledo and the Oakland County suburbs.

Tenants in the new building will have access to all of the propertys current amenities, including a full-service cafeteria and market, fitness center, a conference and training center, putting green, abundant parking, wooded nature trails and a walking path around Grace Lake.

Groundbreaking is expected to begin before the end of 2017 with estimated completion in 2018.

Tags | Detroit, JLL, Michigan, Office, Sovereign Partners, Van Buren Township

2017 Real Estate Communications Group. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from the Real Estate Publishing Group. For information on reprint or electronic pdf of this article contact Mark Menzies at 312-644-4610 or menzies@rejournals.com

Excerpt from:
JLL to market new 150000-square-foot office building in Detroit market - REjournals.com

The Stiles real estate firm is moving forward with plans to redevelop a stretch of downtown Fort Lauderdale with residential units, retail and a 25-story office tower.

Stiles is scheduled to meet with the citys Development Review Committee on Tuesday to discuss 348 apartments and 25,222 square feet of retail at 212 SE Second Ave. Stiles last year paid $13.1 million for the Bank of America building on the site.

Meanwhile, the developer has started preleasing an office building on a neighboring parcel at 201 E. Las Olas Blvd. as part of a previously announced deal with Broward College to replace its two aging buildings.

The 395,836-square-foot office tower, expected to open in the fall of 2020, would include about 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Stiles

Stiles is preleasing a 25-story office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Stiles is preleasing a 25-story office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale. (Stiles)

The office building would be the largest built in downtown Fort Lauderdale since Stiles developed 200 Las Olas Circle nearly a decade ago. AutoNation is that buildings signature tenant.

Office construction virtually ended following the Great Recession, and developers have been slow to propose new projects in the years since.

But market observers say the timing is right for a new building, pointing out the strong demand for space in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

I would say the lack of large blocks of contiguous space in downtown Fort Lauderdale could be hindering new business relocation, said Peter Reed, of Commercial Florida Realty Services in Boca Raton.

Stiles executives did not return calls Monday. But Chairman Terry Stiles said earlier this year that the office building would revitalize the area by bringing new and exciting entertainment and dining options to the ground level as well as open venues for gathering.

City officials are trying to make the downtown corridor a live-work-play destination, and having retail within walking distance is a key component of that strategy, said Barry Wolfe, vice president of investments for Marcus & Millichap in Fort Lauderdale.

To be living downtown and still having to drive everywhere, it becomes more challenging, Wolfe said.

In an online brochure marketing the office tower, Stiles says it has built more than 4 million square feet on and near Las Olas Boulevard.

Projects include Bank of America Plaza at Las Olas City Centre, Plaza at Las Olas and Amaray Las Olas.

Amaray, a luxury apartment building at 215 S.E. Eighth Ave., sold this month for $133.5 million.

VistaBlue Singer Island, a boutique oceanfront condominium located in Riviera Beach is expected to be completed in January.

VistaBlue Singer Island, a boutique oceanfront condominium located in Riviera Beach is expected to be completed in January.

The home was owned by the late Leonard Miller, co-founder of Miami-based home builder Lennar Corp., and his wife, Miami philanthropist Susan Miller.

The home was owned by the late Leonard Miller, co-founder of Miami-based home builder Lennar Corp., and his wife, Miami philanthropist Susan Miller.

Powers@Sun-Sentinel.com, 561-243-6529 or Twitter @PaulOwers

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Stiles planning downtown Fort Lauderdale redevelopment - Sun Sentinel

GREENSBORO Developers are slowly coming back to Greensboro with small projects as the city reaches the bottom of a 15-year slump for major construction projects.

The number of large projects is down by 61 percent in the past five years, as compared with 2000-2005, the City of Greensboros Growth & Development Trends report for April shows.

From 2011 through 2016 developers planned 229 large-scale projects which generally involves the construction of public infrastructure compared with 593 in 2000-2005. During 2006-2010 those building permits also declined to 329, which reflected the end of the real-estate boom and the depth of the national recession.

The citys statistical report offers a picture of the citys population, employment and development patterns for the past 5 years.

Smaller site-plan approvals, which typically involve one lot or building, grew by 9 percent in 2011- 2016, compared with the previous 5-year period. The most recent periods 497 site plans is dramatically fewer than the 661 from 2000-2005 before the recession.

Industrial, institutional and a small number of mixed-use projects are leading that site-plan growth, and there was a continued slump in new commercial projects shown in both parts of the survey. Commercial projects include office and retail development.

Although overall numbers are down, a few noteworthy projects are making visible changes in the local skyline, including two major downtown projects at First National Bank Field, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Developer Roy Carroll is building the $70 million Carroll at Bellemeade which includes a hotel and apartments, and a team of local developers is preparing to build a $24 million, nine-story office building at the corner of Bellemeade and Eugene streets that will be integrated into First National Bank Field.

More broadly, the recession is not the only reason for the limited recovery in development, one member of the Greensboro Zoning Commission said.

Janet Mazzurco, president of Verona Marble and Tile, which is a construction contractor, said she supports smart development, but the citys tax rate and permitting processes are not as streamlined as they are in other cities and that makes it easier for companies to build elsewhere.

Its absolutely nothing to do with the recession in my opinion, Mazzurco said. When you visit other cities, they are thriving. Greensboro is lagging behind. Raleigh is thriving. Charlotte is thriving. Winston-Salem is thriving. Were eating Winston-Salems dust.

Greensboros being viewed as a city with a tax rate that is too high, that is not value-added, and we are developer unfriendly. Therefore we are no longer attracting outside developers from other large cities that are willing to bring larger developments and shopping centers that other cities have.

One small example, Mazzurco said, is Trader Joes, a specialty grocery store that opened in Winston-Salem after considering a Greensboro location at Hobbs Road and Friendly Avenue that drew neighborhood opposition.

Despite an open invitation from the Greensboro City Council to take a second look, Trader Joes officials said in May that the city is not currently on their list of sites.

Its heartbreaking for me as a zoning commissioner in this city to go to Winston-Salem and see things we would love to have in the city of Greensboro, Mazzurco said. It is heartbreaking for me to see the citizens of Greensboro spending their money in Winston-Salem and supporting their tax base when we could be supporting our tax base.

The way Greensboro residents earn their income also is changing.

During the past 15 years more than 15,000 Guilford County residents have moved to Forsyth County, nearly 2,000 more than moved from Forsyth to Guilford. In all, 54,761 people moved from Guilford to Forsyth, Rockingham, Randolph, Alamance, Davidson and Mecklenburg counties, which is 4,405 more than moved into Guilford from those counties, according to income-tax returns the city analyzed.

The majority of jobs in Guilford County are in the service sector, according to the report, with that category comprising 61 percent of 246,000 jobs in 2015. Despite heavy losses, the goods-producing sector, manufacturing, construction and other industries category is holding strong at 19 percent, compared with 23 percent 10 years earlier. In Mecklenburg and Wake counties, goods producing jobs make up less than 15 percent of the workforce.

Of the counties studied in the city report, only Forsyth comes close to that figure in goods producing, also with 19 percent of its employment base.

Contact Richard M. Barron at 336-373-7371 and follow @BarronBizNR on Twitter.

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Building permits in Greensboro have dropped steadily during 15-year span - Greensboro News & Record

Students at Salem Woods Elementary School helped do some of the digging at the groundbreaking ceremony for the start of renovations funded by the 2015 bond on Thursday, June 22.

Frank Wagner and Salem Woods elementary students began their summer with some last-minute groundwork.

Ceremonies marking the start of renovations at both schools were held last week. Representatives from the Monroe School District, Snohomish County Council, city of Monroe and other agencies attended, as well as staff and students, who helped do some of the digging.

Over the next 15 months major demolition will occur following construction of new, bigger and modern facilities. The work being done at the two schools is part of six projects planned or already completed within the Monroe School District; all are being funded by the 2015 bond measure passed by 62.75 percent of voters in April 2015.

I think everything about it increases learning, from good air flow to lighting to heating to indoor spaces to proximity, said Salem Woods principal Janna Pope. I think it will all add to learning.

Popes school is receiving an overhaul. Aside from the building that includes the gym, kitchen and music space, every other structure will be replaced, said MSD spokesperson Tamara Krache. The new instructional facility will be two stories when complete, she said.

Pope said she is excited about opportunities for shared learning the new layout will provide. Classrooms in each grade level will be connected to a commons space for collaboration between classes. Cubbies for coats and backpacks will be set up in the communal area. Right now, students in any given grade level could be scattered across the school, far away from their peers, she said.

Pope said she is equally looking forward to the improved safety of the building, which will be almost completely enclosed, with fewer access points. Staff and students will not have to go outdoors to get anywhere aside from the gym, and having a Northwest design with indoor hallways will offer protection from the elements, she said.

Krache said Salem Woods will also get a new library, public gathering area and administration area. Pope added there will be an outdoor learning space near the salmon-bearing Richardson Creek running behind the school.

Washington-based Tiger Construction will complete the renovation work, which costs nearly $16.6 million, not including sales tax, Krache said.

Big changes are also in store for Frank Wagner.

The schools 11 new classrooms also will be set up in a two-story building, Krache said. The structure will be built up between the old classrooms and the office. The Student Learning Center will be leveled and administration offices updated, she said.

The hallway of the existing classroom building will be extended to run the entire length of the first floor, and the open mesh stairways will be enclosed with glass, Krache said. ...Its Washington, and we get lots of fun weather, so they are going to enclose that with glass.

Frank Wagner will also have a new library, public gathering area and outdoor learning space by the time construction wraps up in August 2018, Krache said. Salem Woods is on the same schedule.

There should be few disruptions to learning at both sites throughout the upcoming school year, Krache said. Pope said new classrooms at her school will be right next door to the current building, which will be demolished once the updated structure is finished. The site where the old building stood will then become a parking lot and student drop-off area, she said.

Krache said administrators and counselors at Frank Wagner will be moved to temporary offices. Those will be either relocated or leveled once construction is complete. The total cost of work at the school is nearly $11.4 million, and will be completed by Washington-based Faber Construction.

Pope said the school will lose some parking space during construction. All parents have been informed there will not be room to pick up and drop off students, who will all be asked to ride the bus next year. She said staff will have to get creative in hosting annual events, and she hopes it doesnt limit volunteer participation.

It is a one-year challenge, but we get something great at the end, Pope said.

Although the groundbreaking was held in June, work officially begins in July, Krache said.

The design process for each school included input from staff, students, parents and the community, according to the school district. The cost of the projects included in the 2015 bond proposal total $110.9 million, plus $640,000 in mitigation fees paid by home developers, and $21.3 million in state construction assistance, according to the school district.

The modernization of Park Place Middle School has already started, and three ballfields have been completed at Monroe High School.

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Education in construction - Monroe Monitor

Phase I of Grandway West, an office park being developed at Grand Parkway and Franz Road.

Phase I of Grandway West, an office park being developed at Grand Parkway and Franz Road.

Industrial construction company inks big office lease in Katy

PCL Industrial Construction will double the size of its local office when it relocates to a new building in the Grandway West office park next year.

The company, which provides industrial services to the power, oil and gas, petrochemical, and mining industries, has leased 36,596 square feet 2322 West Grand Parkway in Katy. It will take the entire second floor of building 4 in the complex, which is planned for five buildings at the Grand Parkway and Franz Road. Completion is planned in January.

RELATED: Grandway West five building office development underway

Eugene Terry and David Bale of JLL represented the tenant. Parker Burkett of Transwestern represented the landlord, InSite Realty.

(Story continues below ... )

"We needed a significantly larger space to accommodate current and future growth," John Moreno, regional president of PCL, said in an announcement.

"In planning for the future, we were in search of high quality office space that was close to our employee base. This new location will provide us the office space and the quality we desire, in a location that supports both our business and our team."

The company's offices at Ten Plaza West, 15915 Katy Freeway, total 18,144 square feet, according to JLL. It is a subsidiary of Denver-based PCL Construction Enterprises.

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Industrial construction company inks big office lease in Katy - Chron.com

In 1989, the historic Bank of Buffalo building and its domed roof were carefully taken apart, piece by piece, in a hopeful effort to preserve the granite facade and other decorative elements after the structure was badly damaged.

Located next to the Merchants Mutual Insurance building at the corner of Main and Seneca streets, the vacant bank facility had been badly damaged when demolition crews hired by the city tore down the taller Chamber of Commerce Building next door.

A prominent developer had planned to erect a new high-rise tower, using both properties. The proposed new building was supposed to incorporate the pieces from the Bank of Buffalo edifice, under an agreement between the developer and the city Preservation Board that allowed the bank building to be demolished.

But the new project never came to fruition after several years, and the site instead became a parking lot. Meanwhile, the preserved architectural features were moved to a warehouse, where they have mostly sat in storage until their time comes.

Now, 28 years later, the property at 234 Main has finally changed hands, with Allpro Parking LLC buying it for $1.25 million. It's going to remain a parking lot, under the ownership of Allpro, with no sign of any construction plans.

"Our desire is to continue operating it as a parking lot as it currently is," said Richard Serra, Allpro CEO.

The Bank of Buffalo building, built in 1895 and demolished in 1989. (Photo by Karl R. Josker)

The sale is drawing renewed attention from preservationists focusing onthe original "memorandum of understanding" and the plight of the squat historic building that stood in downtown Buffalo for nearly a century. The agreement will be on the agenda of the Preservation Board's next meeting June 29.

"People fantasize about bringing that building back, but we have not heard about anything concrete to do so in 30 years," said Jessie Fisher, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara. "Wouldn't it be exciting for Buffalo if we did? What a great infill project."

Designed by Robert Williams Gibson, the Bank of Buffalo building was constructed in 1895, at a time when Buffalo was thriving. The Renaissance Revival building featured detailed stonework, carved reliefs, arched entrances and a dome atop an octagonal terra cotta base.

The bank itself was acquired in 1976 and eventually became part of Bank of New York in 1989. By then, it was already vacant, as was its neighbor, the Chamber building, which was acquired in 1981 by a development corporation tied to the city.

Officials spent several years considering options for redeveloping the much taller Chamber building, and received proposals for a "paperless" office building, a mixed-use building and a luxury apartment complex. But the deteriorating condition of the structure forced them to tear it down instead, and then solicit bids for new construction.

Despite efforts to protect both the Merchants Mutual and Bank of Buffalo buildings next door, the demolition damaged the bank's dome, bent parts of the steel frame and cracked the terra cotta skin.

[Buffalo'sother domed bank: M&T Center's Gold Dome Bank (gallery)]

Meanwhile,Frank L. Ciminelli's Ciminelli Development Co. predecessor to Paul Ciminelli's Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. had proposederecting a $20 million high-rise office tower on both the Chamber and bank sites. That meant demolishing the bank, which Ciminelli asserted was structurally unsound while preservationists insisted it was stable.

So after much hand-wringing and dueling studies, the developer reached an accord with the city and preservationists: salvage what they could for future use at that site. As pieces of the walls and the terra cotta around the glass dome were taken down, the pieces were meticulously identified and numbered for reassembly later as part of any new project to be built on that property.

Ciminelli retained ownership of the property, which became an 85-space parking lot. It's been managed for years by Allpro a separate company in which Paul Ciminelli is a part-owner and Allpro is now buying the parcel, for an undisclosed price. The deal should close by week's end, Serra said.

"If anything is built on the site, they have to incorporate the granite from the building," said Anne Duggan, spokeswoman for Ciminelli Real Estate. "It is stored at one of our warehouse locations, but I don't believe Allpro is going to build anything."

As for the facade pieces, which are included in the sale, they're still in storage, alongside construction equipment and materials, in a Ciminelli-owned facility near Broadway and Bailey Avenue. That's where they will stay, for now.

"We will be maintaining them as they have been throughout their existence," Serra said. "It will be our responsibility."

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Bank of Buffalo, stored away piece by piece since 1989, still waits for its time - Buffalo News

Patch.com

Gloucester Township Council To Discuss Construction Office, Traffic Monday Night Patch.com GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ Gloucester Township Council will consider a pair of proposed ordinances concerning traffic and parking, as well as an ordinance concerning the construction office when it meets Monday night. ... The agency consists of a ... and more »

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Gloucester Township Council To Discuss Construction Office, Traffic Monday Night - Patch.com

The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street.

Rayburn is named after former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. It was completed in 1965 and at 2.375 million square feet (220,644 m) is the largest congressional office building and the newest House office building (the only newer congressional office building is the Hart Senate Office Building, completed in 1982).

Rayburn was completed in early 1965 and is home to the offices of 169 Representatives.

Earlier efforts to provide space for the House of Representatives had included the construction of the Cannon House Office Building and the Longworth House Office Building. In March 1955, House Speaker Sam Rayburn introduced an amendment for a third House office building, although no site had been identified, no architectural study had been done, and no plans prepared.

The area west of the Longworth Building on squares 635 and 636 was chosen, with the main entrance on Independence Avenue and garage and pedestrian entrances on South Capitol Street, C Street, and First Street Southwest. The cornerstone was laid in May 1962, and full occupancy began in February 1965.

The Architect of the Capitol, J. George Stewart, with the approval of the House Office Building Commission, selected the firm of Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson of Philadelphia to design a stripped-down classical building in architectural harmony with other Capitol Hill structures. However, while the interior design of the other House Office Buildings retains decor one would expect to see in House Office Buildings (with cherry wood paneling, brass railings, and marble floors), the Rayburn building possesses design style parallel to that of the 1960s, with chrome push bars, clocks, and elevators, and space-age fluorescent lighting fixtures.

The Capitol Subway System, an underground transportation system, connects the building to the Capitol. Pedestrian tunnels also connect the Rayburn building to the Capitol and to the Longworth House Office Building. This system allows the Rayburn building to be connected to most of the Congressional office buildings on Capitol Hill via tunnel (the Ford House Office Building is freestanding and attached to no other structures by tunnel).

For construction of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Congressional bill appropriated $2 million plus "such additional sums as may be necessary." Such additional sums eventually totaled $88 million. Congressional leaders inserted a gymnasium into the building plans, a fact that was not publicly known at the time of construction. The gym is below the sub-basement level, in a level of the underground parking garage, and according to The Hill, a capitol hill newspaper, "features dozens of cardio machines outfitted with TV screens, an array of Cybex weightlifting machines and free weights."[1] Also in the third floor basement is a shooting range run by the U.S. Capitol Police and a basketball court.[2]

On May 20, 2006 FBI agents raided the Rayburn Building office of Democratic Congressman William J. Jefferson in connection to an ongoing bribery investigation, marking the first time the FBI had raided the office of a sitting congressman.[3] The raid led to members of both parties questioning the constitutionality of the action,[4] and a subsequent hearing by the House Judiciary Committee.[5] The legality of the raid was challenged in court, where a federal appeals court ruled that the FBI had violated the Speech or Debate clause of the United States Constitution by allowing the executive branch to review materials that were part of the legislative process.[6]

On May 26, 2006, at 10:30 am local time, there were reports of the sounds of gunfire in the garage of the building. The Capitol complex was sealed off, and staff in the building were told to stay in their offices after the building was put into lockdown by the United States Capitol Police. Some parts of the lockdown were removed, though other areas remained sealed.

Congressman Jim Saxton was reportedly the source of the false alarm, after he mistook construction sounds in the garage for gunfire.[7]

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Rayburn House Office Building - Wikipedia