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25 Years of MGAC: Corporate Work

MGAC was founded in 1996 with three goals: to do the most interesting and challenging work, to have fun working together, and to build a successful business in the process. Twenty-five years later, we have met these goals and more. At this milestone moment, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of our most memorable projects—our favorite missions made real. Today, join us as we revisit the evolution of our corporate headquarters projects.

Whether we are working with clients who are building from the ground up or renovating; who own their own real estate or are leasing, we approach each challenge with the same driving purpose: finding and implementing the best solution to achieve the best outcome for our client.

Beginnings

Customization of real estate and building solutions to meet the needs of a single organization date back to our origin in 1996, when MGAC began working with law firms to build inspired headquarters. Legal spaces at the time were large, and their building requirements highly specific. Secure spaces, heavy floor loading for what were massive case rooms, increased cooling capacity for high-occupancy conference areas, interconnection of floors, and massive plans for growth lead to a robust business in law firm build-to-suit projects.

To say we had tapped into that potential would be an understatement: over the next 15 years, MGAC would oversee more than 4,300,000 SF of law firm space that spanned the United States—from Washington, DC to New York, West Palm Beach, Houston, Denver, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. By 2000, our law firm project business took us across the Atlantic for our first overseas projects in London and Brussels. This work broadened our understanding of the possible: bespoke projects tailored to meet a particular organization’s highly specific facility requirements.

Taking Things Up A Notch

In 2009, Hilton Worldwide announced it would move its headquarters from Southern California to Northern Virginia. Longstanding, great relationships led to MGAC being engaged in the transcontinental move, which immediately became a race against the clock. Our task: to relocate the headquarters and provide site selection and real estate acquisition, project management, program management, design and construction management, furniture procurement, and move management—all in a matter of six months.

Our success paved the way for a decades long partnership with Hilton Worldwide with multiple projects at the headquarters expanding, renovating, and customizing the space to meet their growing corporate requirements.

Six Years, Many Projects

The next six years brought a rush of exciting corporate work—each with unique challenges to overcome, opportunities to realize, and missions to be accomplished.

American Greetings retained us in 2014 when their prior project management firm struggled to meet the company’s needs. Having spent sixty years in their Brooklyn, OH, campus, its owners decided to find a new home for the 1,800 employees they consider family. They enlisted MGAC on their new headquarters designed to modernize their workspace, harnessing the incredible creativity of the American Greetings staff. The new 600,000 SF, ground-up build-to-suit headquarters is a source of pride for all involved.

In 2016, the Urban Institute looked to MGAC to relocate its 100,000 SF headquarters for the first time in a generation. Urban Institute’s stakeholders were used to their old location, therefore the new headquarters had to be a complete shift in the organization. Modifying the building to accommodate a customized multi-story reception space, a five-story internal staircase, and customized roof deck became the mission which the team was able to accomplish.

T-Mobile chose to partner with MGAC shortly thereafter on its 1,400,000 SF campus renovation in Bellevue, WA. As T-Mobile’s business expanded, the requirements grew, and the campus consequently has expanded east along I-90. The incredible new T-Mobile headquarters is a complete expression of the T-Mobile brand, emphasizing their smarts, their collaborative nature, and relentless focus on caring for their customers and their team members.

Corporate change brings new demands. DXC Technology is a company born from a corporate divestiture. As their business stood on its own, and blossomed, DXC partnered with our firm to deliver 400,000 SF of headquarters and workplace. The timing of the divestiture was extremely brief, therefore our mission to deliver their project was critical to DXC. MGAC came through and continues to work with DXC on various projects throughout the country.

In 2019, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) engaged MGAC to lead one of the most innovative projects in Washington, DC history: the first net-zero energy renovation of a commercial office building in the City. While reaching this status in an existing building in the heart of DC was no easy feat, it was important for the AGU team to live up to their mission of ensuring a sustainable future. This same year, we also commenced work on multiple projects for Freddie Mac, including their new McLean, VA headquarters and branch offices in Dallas and Los Angeles.

Recently, The Sherwin-Williams Company became the latest major brand to enlist MGAC’s services. We were selected to deliver its new global headquarters in downtown Cleveland and its new Research and Development Center in the nearby suburb of Brecksville. These new facilities will house more than 3,500 employees with room for future growth and will bring a minimum of 400 jobs to the area over time.

Looking Ahead

As our work with Hilton Worldwide, T-Mobile, DXC Technology, Freddie Mac, and Sherwin-Williams continues, we are thrilled to also be pushing the envelope on new headquarters for several major technology and media firms across the country. With inventive visions that spare no epic detail (custom art and furniture, environmental graphics, and innovative technologies), our team helps these companies strike a balance between form and function to deliver projects that create a great first impression and also serve as an inspired workplace.

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Want to learn more about how we can help bring your project to life, or get in touch with one of our many experts? Send us an email with how we can help, and we will be in touch.

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