Apr 13, 2021

Altmeyer Building Renovations Completed

 

From left to right, before during and after renovations

     From the General Services Administration (GSA), which handles a lot of the federal government's housekeeping duties, including handling federal properties:

... An example of optimization is the recently completed modernization project at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Arthur J. Altmeyer Building in Woodlawn, Maryland. The Altmeyer Building serves as SSA’s main facility on their headquarters campus, housing the SSA Commissioner, SSA executives and support staff.

In 2013, GSA and SSA completed a master plan that identified the Altmeyer Building as their highest priority to optimizing the headquarters campus. Constructed in 1959, the 181,662 square foot facility includes office and meeting space, and a first floor auditorium. With no major renovations in 60 years, Altmeyer was functionally and technologically obsolete, with original building systems past their expected life and costly to maintain.

SSA and GSA collaborated on a full building modernization, using Altmeyer’s existing structure to save taxpayers nearly $13 million. Demolition and asbestos abatement began in summer 2018. GSA renovated all exterior cladding and interior finishes, and modernized the auditorium. New elevators and building systems were installed including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire alarms.

The modernization project improved space utilization, nearly doubling building occupancy to approximately 800 SSA employees. ...


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm curious what the column shown in the left and center pictures but removed with the renovations. Stairwell?

Anonymous said...

Now all the field offices and hearing offices need to be completely renovated and SSA will have all modern offices instead of all antiquated ones.

Anonymous said...

The "column" you see in the first two pictures is the debris and trash chute erected before renovation work and removed when complete.

Anonymous said...

I spent the last 18 years of my career in that building, pre-renovation and it was so in need of being fixed. The heating, air conditioning, bathrooms, windows. All worn out. The elevators were a joke. The only good side was the fact the building had fixed walls and asbestos that made converting the old "one person" offices with doors, (and room for a sofa and visitors table and chairs) into multi-person "cubicle" offices hard to do. So the amount of space for some of us was sweet. Granted they sometimes crammed 2 people into one of those, but I got lucky. It was a perk few not in the SES could get and some in SES didn't get either. I'm guessing that by doubling the number of employees who can fit that those sweet offices are long gone. Hopefully the elevators have been set up to handle the occupancy rate as well.