The Arlington County Board on July 24 approved a lease agreement that will consolidate its Department of Human Services programs at the Sequoia Plaza complex at 2100 Washington Blvd. DHS offices currently are spread among several sites across the County.
About 60 percent of the department moved to Sequoia Plaza I from Clarendon in 2010. The planned consolidation will place DHS offices in the Sequoia Plaza II and III buildings as well, moving many of DHS’s remaining services there. The consolidation is expected to be completed by fall 2015.
The DHS offices slated to move to Sequoia Plaza are:
Public Health offices currently at Fenwick Center (800 S. Walter Reed Drive, adjacent to Career Center). Most Public Health functions are already at Sequoia Plaza; the move would bring over Public Health administrative offices, Community Health Protection Bureau, and laboratory.
Behavioral Healthcare offices currently along N. George Mason Drive and N. Edison Street, (three buildings, including Drewry Center, at Edison Complex next to Virginia Hospital Center). Several mental health and substance abuse teams are already based at Sequoia; the move would bring over the remaining teams, administrative offices, and other programs.
Clarendon House (3141 10th St. N in Clarendon), a day program for people with mental illness.
The county will lease 72,742 square feet of new space in Sequoia Plaza, in addition to the 144,740 square feet that it currently occupies there. The initial base rent for the new space will be around $2.2 million per year. The county will spend an estimated $11.6 million to improve the new space for county purposes, but the landlord will reimburse the county for $5.2 million of the cost. The lease will expire in 2030, subject to a county extension option for either five or 10 years. The county will have an option to purchase the entire Sequoia Plaza complex in 2023.