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Agency hopes to centralize metro operations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to spend $400 million to build new, centralized office space, the majority of which will be centered at the federal agency’s Chamblee campus, officials said. 

The CDC awaits congressional approval to build two office buildings at a cost of about $200 million to $300 million, said Dave Daigle, a CDC spokesman. Both buildings will house about 250 employees apiece from research departments dealing with issues such as birth defects and chronic diseases, he said. 

The department also plans to build two parking garages with more than 1,500 parking spaces to serve the new employees and those in existing government agencies inside the campus. The Chamblee campus is on Buford Highway.

The construction is designed to consolidate the agency which is spread across the metro Atlanta area in leased spaces, Daigle said. 

“We have a lot of lease space around Atlanta,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t have to pay rent on government property.” 

The agency is also building another $93 million building that will hold about 1,100 people called “Building 24” on its Clifton Road campus across the street from Emory University, Daigle said. Construction has already begun on the site, and the agency expects to open the building in 2011, he said. 

No timetable has been set for the Chamblee buildings, Daigle said. 
“We’ve begun the planning… and once we get the final approval in the fall we’ll go ahead and work on it,” he said. 

The CDC, headquartered in Atlanta, is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. It’s charged with protecting public health by educating the public, preventing the spread of disease and preparing for emergency health issues such at the recent spread of swine flu across the country. 

It employs about 15,000 people worldwide.