FM Global considers building new HQ

PBN Staff

11/06/2007

THE 4-STORY BUILDING, as it would appear from the main entry drive, would be designed to meet LEED environmental standards. /

JOHNSTON – Commercial property insurer FM Global today announced it is “exploring options” that might include building a new $60 million headquarters near its existing facility, on land it owns off Central Avenue.

“Our current headquarters has served us well for more than 30 years, but due to its age and design, it’s become costly to heat and cool, and doesn’t efficiently support today’s technology and environmental sensitivity,” Chairman and CEO Shivan S. Subramaniam said in a statement this evening.
“We are seeking a new location that will be scalable and grow with our company in the future. Renovating our existing headquarters doesn’t make economic sense – so, accordingly, we are exploring all of our options.”
Nearly 800 employees work out of FM Global’s current headquarters on Atwood Avenue, a 340,000-square-foot office building the insurer has occupied since it was constructed in 1973. In 1984, the company entered into a 25-year sale and leaseback agreement that expires in July 2009.
In anticipation of that expiration, the company said it has explored alternatives including purchasing the existing building at fair market value, constructing a new facility on it’s the 300-acre parcel, building at another site nearby, or finding a pre-built facility within “reasonable” driving distance.
Together with Vision 3 Architects of Providence and Hobbs Brook Management LLC of Waltham, Mass., FM Global has created preliminary designs for a new headquarters that would be built on land the company already owns, behind the AIPSO building on Central Avenue and an adjacent softball field.
The proposed four-story building would offer the same square footage the insurer now occupies, but would make more efficient use of the office space, enabling it to house more employees, and would have a smaller “footprint.”
It also would be designed, constructed and operated as a high-performance “green” building, and would be expected to meet U.S. Green Building Council criteria for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, FM Global said.
The company has not yet committed to the plan, which it said would be contingent upon securing approval from the Johnston Town Planning Board and Town Council, as well as environmental regulators, but said that “talks with town and state officials as well as abutting neighbors have been positive.”
FM Global is a $4.5 billion commercial property insurer with roots in Rhode Island that stretch back 170 years. It employs 4,700 people around the world, including nearly 1,700 in southern New England, at its Atwood Avenue headquarters, its research campus in Glocester and its offices in Norwood and Waltham, Mass. To learn more, visit www.fmglobal.com.