Casting a wide net to find the right fit

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the leading professional association for infection preventionists (IPs) with more than 15,000 members. APIC’s mission is to create a safer world through the prevention of infection. This is achieved by providing better care to promote better health at a lower cost. Most APIC members are nurses, physicians, public health professionals, epidemiologists, microbiologists, and medical technologists.

Having resided in the same offices in Downtown Washington, DC since 1998, and having lived through varying degrees of renovation, APIC, led by CEO, Katrina Crist, and her staff of 33, elected to begin anew.

JLL’s Ken Patton and Tucker Farman worked with the APIC team to establish the quantitative and qualitative requirements for the new space beginning with a staff-wide survey followed by a detailed needs analysis experimenting with the latest in alternative workplace strategies. From there, Ken and Tucker provided APIC’s team with an in-depth analysis of DC market alternatives. After touring over two dozen spaces, negotiating proposals with several property owners and reviewing a financial summary illustrating the impact of the rising rents (due to a significant depletion of moderately-priced space in Downtown Washington, DC), JLL expanded APIC’s search to include Metro-accessible submarkets in Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland. JLL then prepared a zip code analysis enabling APIC to consider employee commute patterns in order to limit potential staff attrition normally associated with moving to an alternate submarket.

APIC decided on Crystal City, VA due to its Downtown DC and Reagan National Airport proximity, Metro and VRE accessibility and its emergence as a live-work-play environment. Specifically, APIC selected 1400 Crystal Drive, a newly renovated and expanded building owned by Lowe Enterprises offering floor-to-ceiling windows, expansive column-free space (flexibility of design), a large rooftop terrace, tenant lounge, fitness center, conference center, green space, adjacency to the Crown Plaza Hotel and the revitalized Crystal Drive retail mix.

Ken and Tucker engaged JLL’s project manager, Frank Mobilio, working in concert with the project architect, to execute the design, bidding, permitting and construction process.

And the best part – APIC will save $3 million over the life of their lease.