New Headquarters for Industrial Bank, Largo, MD

Project involved total gut rehabilitation of the building, retaining only the brick masonry shell and structural steel structure, replacement of all building MEP/FP systems including piping and ductwork, all windows and doors, the existing roof, and repair of existing elevator to improve performance and meet current building codes.

Key Strength

Most firms used to service the public sector cannot improvise or make strategic decisions in the best interest of the Owner or project.  It is a “no-can-do” mentality governed by contracts terms and a very narrow understanding of what’s important to the Owner. As a result, many public sector projects fail, and the taxpayers end up holding the bag. This private sector project benefited from a decisive decision by Mimar’s recognition of what’s critical to the success of the project without bickering with client over the lump sum fees. As a result, the client who is venturing into development insists that we work on their 2nd redevelopment project which is a stone’s throw away from the current one.

Challenges Resolved

The project had a very ambitious delivery schedule, but the private sector owner has had no development or major capital improvement experience, with no dedicated in-house staff to manage the project or pace timely decision making. Mimar worked closely with the Owner’s representatives, handholding whenever necessary, including working with the GC’s subs, Owner’s vendors (though not in our scope of service).

Utilized innovative processes that facilitated project delivery

Mimar’s PM Tony Tso chose to split the contract stipulated single CD permit package into 2 at Mimar’s own cost without charging additional service for the additional efforts required, one for Core & Shell, one for Tenant Improvement. Earlier on, we recognized that it would take the unsophisticated Owner (a historic minority bank that has no development experience) too long to deliberate over TI related design decision-making process and needlessly delay the permit thus construction start. As a result, the demolition for Core & Shell was able to proceed by June 2020 even though the TI package took another 5 months until OCT 2020 to finalize. Because the GC already has a building permit on site, that strategic move on Mimar’s part saved the Owner and the project from a delay of 5 to 6 months.