acquired the NoMa site this past Spring, planning to develop it into a 10-story, 360,000-square-foot building that will incorporate much of the historical elements of the existing structure. Capital Area Food Bank's use of the site for the next 12 months is a fitting postscript to the multi-step transaction of a property that is probably one of NoMa's most interesting sites.

Now a 174,058-square-foot, flex-industrial building--that was recently leased to the Smithsonian Institution--1111 N. Capitol St. was built in 1927 as a warehouse for the C&P Telephone Co. The Smithsonian used it to build exhibits for the Mall and NPR plans to preserve some 78,000 square feet of the original historic structure--including frontages on North Capitol and Pierce streets. The media outlet will also retain the façade and portions of the structure, and integrate those with its to-be-developed 10-story office tower.

Last month NPR closed on the sale of its current headquarters--the 151,785-square-foot East End building at 635 Massachusetts Ave.--to Boston Properties in a sales leaseback deal. Boston Properties will be redeveloping 1111 N. Capitol St., with ground scheduled to break next year some time.

This leads to the Capital Area Food Bank--which broke ground on its own new facility at the end of last month. The food bank--the largest in DC --is developing a new distribution warehouse at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave., NE, that will double the size of its current 48,000-square-foot facility. It will open in 2010, but until then NPR's North Capitol Street site will be used to tide the food bank over--as demand for its services are, unfortunately, growing in this economic environment, an NPR spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com. "It is going to take use close to a year to prep for development. The Smithsonian is not using it anymore and it is just sitting empty right now. We are happy we can do this for the Food Bank."

The food bank will start using 1111 N. Capitol Street this week to store large bulk items that cannot be housed in its current facility. It will occupy a portion of the first floor as well as the seven loading docks. Studley, which brokered the acquisition of the NoMa property, connected the food bank and NPR.

NPR will remain at its current location until its new headquarters is ready in 2012. It has recently selected Hickok Cole as the architect. Plans include a 60,000-square-foot space for NPR News' broadcast and multimedia operations and a public space for live shows and events.

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