Sentinel Square III

Overview

Sentinel Square III is the third phase of part of the partnership’s 1.3 million-square-foot, multi-phase, Class A office development located in the heart of Washington, DC’s popular NoMa submarket. The building, which is comprised of 540,000 square feet, is designed to meet ISC Level IV security protocols and will pursue LEED^® Silver.

Opportunity, Solutions & Outcomes

Trammell Crow Company signed a long-term lease for nearly 473,000 square feet with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who will occupy a portion of Floors 1-2 and the entirety of Floors 3-10 of the 11-story building. 

As for innovation, the design and development team was required to modify its original vision for this final phase of Sentinel Square to accommodate the unique requirements of the FCC, including 11’ 6” finished ceilings on the first floor to house hearing rooms and large conference facilities. In order to achieve this greater height on the first floor, the team elected to reduce the number of the floors in the building by one, allowing ample room for the first floor required heights. The team then needed to devise a way to make up the square footage lost with the removal of that floor and how to visually blend this 11-story building with the two existing 12-story surrounding buildings at Sentinel Square I & II. The team creatively accomplished both goals.

By resizing and reshaping the building floorplates, and redesigning the code mandated courtyards, the team was successful in making up the square footage lost by removing a floor. By increasing the physical separation from Sentinel Square II via an 11-story open air court and leaving the building at the same overall height, it is unlikely the average passerby would recognize the difference in the number of floors between the two buildings. The added benefits of this solution are increased finished ceiling heights and daylighting on all of FCC’s floors.