Mayor Gray and St. Elizabeths East Technology Anchors Meet with Potential Academic-and-Research Anchors for Site
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 25, 2013
CONTACTS:
Doxie McCoy (EOM) 202.727.9691; doxie.mccoy@dc.gov
Chanda Washington (DMPED) 202.727.6365; chanda.washington@dc.gov
Mayor Gray and St. Elizabeths East Technology Anchors Meet with Potential Academic-and-Research Anchors for Site
Potential Educational Research Anchors Meet and Tour Ward 8 Development Site
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Mayor Vincent C. Gray today participated in the St. Elizabeths East Pre-Response Conference for Academic Institutions. The conference was held in advance of the due date for responses to the Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for an academic anchor at the St. Elizabeths East Innovation Hub. The conference follows President Obama’s recent announcement that his Fiscal Year 2014 budget included a request for $367 million to support the consolidation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) headquarters on the St. Elizabeths West Campus – symbolizing the redevelopment synergy both sides of the St. Elizabeths Campus bring to Ward 8.
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“I am pleased to welcome representatives from educational institutions across the country to the future home of the St. Elizabeths East Innovation Hub,” said Mayor Gray. “I’ve made technology recruitment and attraction a key centerpiece of my economic-development strategy for a number of reasons — not the least of which is its capacity to foster job growth all over the city. We are excited about the opportunity this site presents for research institutions, businesses and our residents alike.”
The Innovation Hub on the St. Elizabeths East Campus offers universities an exceptional opportunity for co-location and collaboration with government and technology-related industries that are slated to open facilities at the site. It is located next to the new U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, scheduled to open later this year, and the future site of the consolidated DHS headquarters.
Mayor Gray was joined at the St. Elizabeths East Campus on Alabama Avenue SE by Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor L. Hoskins, St. Elizabeths East Executive Director Catherine Buell, Daniel Kasun of Microsoft, Edouard Ayguesparsse of Citelum, Arol Wolford of SmartBIM, and over 90 registered event participants. The purpose of the pre-response conference was to provide potential university respondents to the RFEI with a formal briefing on the site, afford them an opportunity to meet the site’s technology anchors and allow them to tour the campus in advance of offering their RFEI responses outlining their vision for helping develop the site.
In advance of the conference, potential respondents participated in a bus tour of the city hosted in conjunction with the Washington DC Economic Partnership. In addition to a welcome from Mayor Gray, the conference included remarks by a representative from each of the site’s technology anchor tenants, including Microsoft, Citelum, and SmartBIM.
Microsoft highlighted its future location of a Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) on the site, which is a state-of-the-art technology facility designed specifically to allow Microsoft to form partnerships with local companies and provide opportunities for local technology firms and entrepreneurs to share resources and ideas, collaborate on projects, and translate these projects into commercial applications. Citelum discussed the company’s location of its U.S. headquarters and lighting innovation center on the campus to focus on developing cutting-edge initiatives in LED lighting technology and energy-efficient lighting. And SmartBIM discussed its work to provide office and demonstration facilities on the campus to showcase its technologies, as well as offer programs to train and educate students, District residents, and others in the building trades on how to use visualization tools to meet energy and security needs. Following the luncheon, participants were taken on a walking tour of the St. Elizabeths East Campus.
St. Elizabeths East is the largest mixed-use project in the District. The Innovation Hub will be the core of its first phase of development, which will include academic and technology-related commercial facilities. Responses to the RFEI for an academic-and-research anchor for the campus are due on July 26, 2013.