American Council on Education
Project Type: Real Estate Strategy & Interior Renovation
Space Use: Office, Common Area Improvements
Location: Washington, D.C.
Project Size: ~34,000 SF
Services Provided: Asset Value Maximization Strategy, Design & Project Management
The American Council on Education (“ACE”) is a non-profit organization dedicated to mobilizing the higher education community to shape effective public policy and promote innovative, high-quality practices. Headquartered in its 217,000 SF owned office building located at One Dupont Circle in Northwest Washington, DC, ACE wanted to improve the efficiency of its administrative operations and align its office layout, interior design, furniture, fixtures, and equipment with modern workplace standards. JM Zell has provided ACE strategy and project management services over the last 15 years. Most recently, ACE engaged JM Zell to provide occupancy strategy and construction project management to develop the strategy, and oversee the design, construction, and delivery of ACE’s headquarters space renovation project.
JM Zell began the engagement with an in-depth set of meetings with client leadership and key stakeholders to review workplace strategy, existing operations issues, program requirements, goals and vision for the future workplace environment, and key operations and financial criteria for project success. With key client inputs, JM Zell then developed potential future occupancy scenarios to determine which best aligned with ACE’s goals. For each scenario, JM Zell identified rough order of magnitude costs and a schedule.
Ultimately, JM Zell recommended consolidating ACE’s office space from more than four floors to two to foster inter office collaboration, communication, and efficiency. This scenario provided an opportunity for ACE to monetize the space freed up by the consolidation through third party leasing efforts. Utilizing JM Zell’s analysis, ACE leadership was able to swiftly gain consensus in approving the project. JM Zell and ACE commenced the design/ pre-construction phase. JM Zell identified, bid, vetted, and onboarded key 3rd party consultants (design, furniture, MEP engineer, etc.), and led a competitive general contractor bid process to determine which consultants and contractor could best meet ACE’s goals at competitive pricing. JM Zell’s construction management team, which also consists of a legal contract specialist, assisted ACE counsel with all construction contract negotiations and documentation. Once all consultants were on-boarded and the general contractor selected and engaged, the project entered the construction implementation phase.
Currently, JM Zell is providing project management construction oversight services, holding regular status meetings with all parties to keep the client apprised of progress, and addressing any existing or potential issues with creative solutions to mitigate ACE’s risk. The outcome will be a significantly modernized office space that not only meets current design and technological standards but also supports the organization’s functional needs and future growth.
If you are interested in learning more about how JM Zell can assist you in achieving your business and operations goals through real estate, please contact us here.