New USCENTCOM headquarters building officially opens

  • Published
  • By Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  A formal ribbon cutting ceremony was held Nov. 28 to officially open the new 252,855-square-foot U.S. Central Command headquarters building here.

The event was attended by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and former USCENTCOM commanders Gen. George Crist and Gen. Anthony Zinni.

U.S. Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, a longtime MacDill supporter, was the keynote speaker.

Participating in the ribbon cutting with Congressman Young were Gen. James N. Mattis, USCENTCOM commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Frank A. Grippe.

During his opening remarks, Mattis thanked various parties, including the Air Force but specifically AFCEE and the project manager, Cheryl Pierce, for their efforts in bringing the headquarters to completion.

The design of the facility, by Burns & McDonnell of Kansas City, is similar to the four-story USCENTCOM Joint Intelligence Center located next to it. The two facilities together form the USCENTCOM compound.

The headquarters construction project was awarded to Clark Construction on June 30, 2009. The facility completed Phase 1 of the contract. Phase 2 is set to begin in January and includes a 6,645-square-foot reception center, associated parking lot and the demolition of the existing USCENTCOM headquarters. The total cost of the project is $83 million.

This was the first project on MacDill to pursue U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a year before the Air Force mandated LEED certification, and is on track to achieve LEED gold certification.

Additionally, Building Information Modeling, or BIM, was used to ensure all systems to include communications; heating and air conditioning; and secure and unclassified communication wiring, fit into the raised flooring and interstitial space while the contractor used BIM for conflict and clash detection during construction.

This project was the first integrated BIM-based project awarded for AFCEE by the South Atlantic Division, Mobile District of the Corps of Engineers. It is also the first contractually required BIM-based job in the Air Force. The model with COBIE database will be supplied to the facility manager for his use to meet CENTCOMs future facility needs.