Following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) became concerned about the potential vulnerability of various defense and military operations housed in leased space throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area. One such group was the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) with its offices at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria.
As the Army's logistical nerve center, it was determined that AMC needed to be moved to a more secure location to become, what has now entered the military lexicon, "force protected." That new location became Fort Belvoir.
"The events of Sept. 11 underscore our need for security and increased safety. It also affords us a reduction in leased space and will make us more efficient," said AMC Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Richard A. Hack in 2002, at the beginning of AMC's relocation. Upon his return from Germany in 2002, Hack expressed surprise at what he considered the exposed vulnerability of what is now known as The Victory Center building on Eisenhower Ave. In addition to a vast, wide open parking lot with no security ballards, and the structural blast deficiencies of an older building, there was also a railroad line directly behind the building that, in his evaluation, posed a potential explosive threat.
By autumn 2003 that was no longer the case. Since then they have been housed in a newly constructed modular headquarters built on Fort Belvoir's main post. Also, since then 5001 Eisenhower Avenue has remained vacant, a hulking reminder of the collateral economic damage resulting from 9-11.

NOW ITS NEW OWNERS/DEVELOPERS, a triad composed of Prudential Real Estate Investors, a global real estate investment firm; Jones Land LaSalle, an industry leader in property and corporate facility management services; and Hickok Warner Cole Architects, are making a serious effort to bring the 611,000 square feet structure back to life. They are focusing primarily on federal government tenants.
"We believe this building is going to be a federal government office building. To that end we are making it force protection secure. We are taking it down to the skin and hardening it to meet those specifications," said Joseph Brennan, senior vice president, Government Investor Services for Jones Land LaSalle.
On July 26, in joint news releases, U.S. Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (R-11) and James P. Moran (D-8) addressing the realignment of government military and civilian personnel as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Report of September 2005 (BRAC), announced that they had "been contacted about a property in Alexandria called Victory Center."
The new owners, according to the last paragraph of those releases, "say it is ideal to accept BRAC-related personnel — it is located near sufficient transportation infrastructure, it meets DoD security standards, and there is room on the site to build more buildings." The last phrase of that statement, if anything, is a gross understatement.
In addition to the existing building, Victory Center owners have already proposed and presented to the Alexandria Planning Commission a development plan for the 16-acre site that calls for an additional one million square feet of office building, and three multi-level, above ground parking garages that would not require the security measures associated with parking below an office complex.
"We've done our job with the City. We are talking with a variety of federal agencies including the PTO, NOAA, DoD, GAO, the Army Corps of Engineers and others. We are confident this will become a vibrant center once again. It's just a matter of time," Brennan said, who specializes in dealing with federal government tenants.
"We are talking to a lot of potential tenants but we don't have anyone pinned down at this time. Dealing with the federal government is a very slow process," he said.
"Everybody you can think of has been through here. They are all thinking a lot about price, security and proximity to the Metro system," Brennan said.
As for the latter, proximity to Metro, Victory Center is in a favorable location — approximately two city blocks from the Van Dorn station. It is also close to both the Eisenhower and Van Dorn Street interchanges of the Capital Beltway and served by both Metro Bus and DASH along Eisenhower Avenue.
"Our only short coming is in available retail space in the surrounding area. But, that can be solved either on property or in conjunction with our nearby neighbors," Brennan said.

BUT, THAT IS NOT the only stumbling block when it comes to the site's use by incoming BRAC personnel. According to language contained in both the original BRAC Report and the recently signed Record of Decision (ROD), units being transferred are being transferred "to Fort Belvoir." Paragraph eight of the ROD states, "The Army must carry out the BRAC recommendations at Fort Belvoir to achieve the objectives for which Congress established the BRAC process and to comply with the law."
Although, not categorically stated, the direct implication of that terminology is that any property used for BRAC purposes would have to be the property of Fort Belvoir by the realignment deadline of Sept. 15, 2011. Thus far that has been a prime guiding rule.
It is also what makes the General Services Administration (GSA) warehouse complex across from Springfield Mall so attractive as a potential location for the Washington Headquarters Services unit, a BRAC contingent of 6,200 personnel. It is already federal government real estate and merely needs to be transferred to DoD Fort Belvoir to be in compliance with the "to Fort Belvoir" phraseology.
The GSA site is also contiguous to Metro and Virginia Railway Express stations. The latter may prove to be more valuable as a commuter facility in the future than Metro if large numbers of incoming BRAC personnel eventually reside to the south where there is no Metro ready access.
On May 10, Davis and Moran included language in the FY08 Defense Appropriations legislation "mandating that the GSA enter into an agreement transferring their Franconia warehouses in Springfield to the Army," according to a joint news release from the two Congressional offices.
"The language forces the GSA and the Secretary of the Army to enter into a land exchange of the GSA's Franconia Warehouse property no later than Sept. 30, 2008," according to the release. Both Representatives felt this was necessary to relieve pressure on planned realignments to the Fort Belvoir Engineering Proving Grounds. At this time only the National Geospatial-Intelligence Ageny's 8,500 personnel will be located on EPG.
On June 11, Moran included another amendment into the FY08 Financial Services Appropriations Bill giving GSA "flexibility to consider other factors than just security when approving federal agencies to locate operations in leased office space." It was approved on a voice vote.

A LESSER KNOWN factor impacting the use of the GSA warehouse site is that, in addition to the necessity that the warehouses be demolished and a new office building or buildings be constructed, the site can only take an estimated 3,000 personnel "without causing serious transportation infrastructure costs," according to Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman.
"Those costs would be in the form of building new roads or vastly improving what we have now," said Kauffman, one of the original advocates for utilizing the GSA warehouse site for BRAC purposes. "The only way all 6,200 could go there is to build more roads," he said.
It was that very lack of transportation infrastructure that brought about the agreement between the Army, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and elected leaders, local and Congressional, to limit BRAC's impact to EPG to only the Geospatial personnel. If the GSA site is confined to 3,000 that leave another 3,200 WHS personnel without a designated home.
Victory Center is now gutted and ready for reconfiguration. It is accessible by both Metro Rail and individual vehicles. Parking for the latter would present little or no threat to the office structures. According to the owners they are willing and capable of making the complex force protective.
However, there is the question of whether they would be willing to sell the complex to the Army to bring it in compliance with paragraph eight of the ROD, if that is ultimately decided to be necessary. "We are looking for tenants not to sell this complex," said Brennan.
"I'm very excited about the opportunities that site provides. It is massive and an ideal location. It is also a highly secured site. We've been encouraging the owners to get it rented," said Alexandria Mayor William Euille.
"The GSA warehouses would require total demolition and rebuilding on a very tight schedule. The Victory Center is an excellent structure and whomever wants to be there could have it tomorrow," Euille said.
"I think the Victory Center has always planned for some element of the military to move in. I hope it will be considered very seriously," said Alexandria Vice Mayor Redella "Del" Pepper.
As for its name "Victory Center," that was chosen by the new
owners. "It's on Eisenhower Avenue and he was the Allied military commander for the victory of World War II. Our symbol is his designation as a five star general with the stars in a circle," Brennan explained. At the opposite end of Eisenhower Avenue from the Victory Center building is a statute of General Dwight David Eisenhower. Whether the symbolism prevails remains to be seen.