Company's Presence Seen as Boon in Charles

SAIC Takes Root in La Plata Building

Defense contracting giant Science Applications International Corp. is expanding its presence in Southern Maryland with a state-of-the-art training center in La Plata.

The Fortune 500 company, known as SAIC, is to participate today in a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the Howard Street Office Building, a three-story, 23,000-square-foot facility built by Facchina Construction. SAIC is leasing roughly 60 percent of the building.

Although just 50 SAIC employees will work at the La Plata office, the building will serve as a hub for training sessions and meetings with out-of-town clients. The heart of the facility is an 80-seat conference center equipped with dual video projection screens, wireless Internet access, built-in microphones for conference calls and a touch-screen computer control system.

"This is a world-class operation," said Edward W. Kratovil, senior safety engineer for SAIC's Applied Ordinance Technology Division at the La Plata center. The San Diego-based company also operates a campus in Tysons Corner.

The SAIC lease ended an aggressive pursuit by Facchina officials, who have long aimed to bring national and global firms to their La Plata office buildings. Local leaders hailed SAIC's commitment as a boon to Charles County's economic development efforts and their attempts to raise its profile.

County officials said the SAIC deal is particularly beneficial, given the sluggish economy. SAIC employees from across the country are expected to travel to the new center for training sessions, which would boost hotel and restaurant business.

"If 100 people a month come to La Plata, that could have a huge impact on restaurants in the core downtown area and create some home sales," said John Reardon, Facchina's chief operating officer. "And then there's the secondary value, when word gets spread to communities that don't know much about La Plata, and it sets a positive image for the town."

On Tuesday, SAIC hosted its first major meeting at the new office, bringing representatives from Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Boeing to a discussion about designing weapons systems.

Facchina executives said that area doctors' offices and law firms expressed interest in the La Plata building but that the company decided to deviate from its formula for filling its other six office buildings in La Plata.

"We were much more proactive, rather than putting a 'For Lease' sign and waiting for someone to come." said Gary Bopp, Facchina's project manager for the Howard Street building. "We were calling them and asking how we could work out a deal."

Facchina was partly interested in SAIC because of its presence in the Washington region and the proximity of military bases at Dahlgren, Va., Indian Head and Patuxent River.

"The key was that the marketplace had responded so well to the other buildings, so we wanted to raise it a notch and see if national firms would be interested," Reardon said.

Port Tobacco Consulting, an engineering firm based in La Plata, will operate out of the third floor. Other offices on the ground and third floors remain unclaimed.