Massey building closed for nearly two weeks
463 employees evacuated, moved to various locations
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20130719/NEWS/130718902/1117/massey-building-closed-for-nearly-two-weeks&template=fairfaxTimes

As more than 450 county employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s office working in the Massey building in Fairfax await construction of a new facility that has already been pushed out an additional year, the inadequacy of the rundown 46-year-old building is becoming more and more evident.

On June 30, the building’s air conditioning went out and required nearly two weeks of repairs.

The building’s approximately 463 employees were forced to scatter to assorted spare rooms at various locations throughout the county in order to work, and were not able to return until July 11.

“It’s an old building and anything can happen,” said Deputy County Executive and former Police Chief Dave Rohrer. “The building houses a whole host of employees who perform various duties within each of those departments. If an essential system goes out, we initiate our Continuity of Operations plan that uses existing facilities to house employees, minimizing costs while repairs are made.”

“This time an air chiller went bad and required extensive repair,” confirmed Fairfax County Government spokesman Jeremy Lasich. “There was no cost to the county for the repairs because the unit was under a service contract.”

But because the building contains asbestos, air tests also had to be conducted.

“We had to be sure no asbestos had been disturbed,” said Rohrer. Lasich said that on the morning of July 11, air tests were conducted throughout the building.

“All tests tested to acceptable levels to allow re-entry,” he said.

The repairs and tests were just one in a long line of incidents that have occurred in recent years.

Built in 1967, the 166,777-square-foot Massey building housed various general Fairfax County offices until 1992, when it was handed over to the police, fire and rescue, and sheriff departments for their exclusive use.

In July 2009, an HVAC issue similar to this most recent one closed the building for two days, and in December 2009, a cooling system pump burst, flooding the two top floors and causing water-soaked asbestos tiles to fall to the floor.

“The building experienced two failures in 2009 due to chiller and associated component breakdowns that required staff in the building to vacate and relocate,” it says in the Fairfax County FY 2014-FY 2018 Adopted Capital Improvement Program. “The building has many inefficiencies such as: aged lighting fixtures; overloaded electrical systems with no spare capacity for new equipment; aged HVAC components with repair parts often not available; aged plumbing fixtures that cause leaking behind the building walls; roof deficiencies and leaking; obsolete fire alarm systems and no sprinkler system; and asbestos fireproofing throughout the building restricting or prohibiting access to equipment in order to make needed repairs.”

A new eight-story, 272,000-square-foot building is listed as new construction in the 2014-2018 CIP, at a cost of $158.5 million, to replace the Massey building, but an original expected move-in date of 2015 has been moved back a year.

“We will have a groundbreaking next year and anticipate completion now in 2016,” Lasich said. “Following that, the Massey building will be demolished.”

Rohrer, no stranger to the building or to its intermittent evacuations, said the Continuity of Operations plan will just have to suffice if it is needed again before the new building is complete.

“We polish the plan extensively to make sure it works,” he said. “It held up well this time, and everyone’s welfare was well taken care of.”
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Time to bilk county taxpayers again and build another palace. Why wasn't the existing palace built to house Massey Bldg people so they could abandon it then?

“We polish the turd extensively to make sure it's shiny,” he said. “It held up well this time, and all the gubbmint worker's welfare was well taken care of.”

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Ridiculous. The county should look into selling this building to law firms that do business in the area, instead of soaking the taxpayers on BOTH ends of the deal. There's got to be something that could be gained in marketing the prestige of having a law office on the literal doorsteps of the courthouse.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2013 01:40PM by bledbetter.

Their $158 million dollar estimate for the 8-story replacement is pretty laughable, too. Anyone remember what the original estimate for the billion dollar headquarters complex was?

$83 million dollars. (http://is.gd/jH4VAg)

How much did it cost to build, in the era of "intelligent" government (at least, compared to the mindless simps we have on the Board of Supervisors today)?

$900 million. (http://is.gd/RIak6z)

If the past is any indication, this new project's going to be a $2 billion doozy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2013 02:02PM by bledbetter.

Only the best for Queen Sharon,

Asbestos, faulty wiring, overloaded circuits and leaking behind the walls of a building where 463 people work every day? ? Sounds like a multi-million lawsuit against Fairfax County waiting to happen...again, at the taxpayer's expense.

"and all the gubbmint worker's welfare was well taken care of.”

Just so we're clear, your statement includes everyone in the military, right?

Guess that gives ol' Toni Garcia and JJ some more alone time eh?

That's 450 "workers" who wouldn't be missed one bit if they were all to vanish. They're just bureaucratic leeches on the taxpayers of Fairfax. Why not just tear down the building and fire all the do-nothing paycheck-collectors?

"Just so we're clear, your statement includes everyone in the military, right?"

Fairfax county has a military?

Cut Bloat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's 450 "workers" who wouldn't be missed one
> bit if they were all to vanish. They're just
> bureaucratic leeches on the taxpayers of Fairfax.
> Why not just tear down the building and fire all
> the do-nothing paycheck-collectors?


They are people's fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles you ignorant sob. I and any decent minded person hope that you die and burn in hell.

They are also the people that keep you safe. U unpatriotic leech

"They are also the people that keep you safe"

Of course they are. Keep telling yourself that and you might believe it.

The rest of us are perfectly capable of not injuring ourselves without the solitaire playing "workers"...

Even sanitation engineers and people that work with Fairfax water and filtration work there. The place is unsafe and it needs to come down but never wish injury and death to people. Also don't increase unemployment and mess up the functions of the county. The country is run starting in local city counsels and and positions and then when every area has their board and city counsel set up then you move up the chain to state senate and representatives along with the big 3. gov, lt gov, atorney general. The state government is comprised of elected officials. If you don't like how it's run then stop voting democrat but don't blame the people working under the elected officials.


Sorry that got really off track an I'm not going to erase it.

One of the big problems with this place is that when it was the County HQ walls were constantly being moved as the County govt expanded and holes drilled thru the floors to the electric raceways imbedded in the concrete floors, this was done so much it was felt it could effect the intergrity of the floors and was stopped before it could. So its diffucult to run computer cableing ect through the ceiling with the asbestoes problem up there which was fireproofing when the building was built.

The Massey has 10 thousand sq feet on each floor 100X100 half the size of what the World Trade Center had as a example which was 200X200 and the center core is elevators, electric ropoms, bathrooms lobby so some space is gone. When wind blows hard you can feel a bit of sway on the upper floors.

Its gone past its time with all the issues its had. It was opened in 1969. Its 192 feet from the concrete on the A level to the roof. In the early 70's there was a controversey because the lights had something to do with heating the place and they had to be left on all night. The basement was the 2nd "modern" police dispatch center til 1988 when the 911 center was opened at the old Pineridge School. The bottom line is this place has been rode hard with little money spent on it, and it served well during its time

A second issue is the land, thats all Fairfax County land in the middle of the City of Fairfax. The land was deeded to Fairfax County two hundred plus years back for use as a "Courthouse". There are legal issues on the Countys ability to sell any of that property to anyone. If the County "gives it up" Then the land goes to the heirs of the original owners. As such there no way Fairfax County can sell that land. As far as building a place and renting it to law firms thats not the business of government. So the Massey will come down and a new Fire & Hq built there as the land is the Countys. With the ADC Juv. Detention, Courthouses nearby its all called the Fairfax County Public Safety Complex.

I understand all of the issues, but there are buildings that are PLENTY older than that which are still in service. Heck, half of New York City is woefully outdated, per your standards of being "ridden hard."

My point is, the County should at least try to think of ways it can recoup on its prior investments, instead of just assuming that spending a billion dollars (which is what this is going to end up costing us) to throw everything away and start over. Whether they sell the building, or work out a 100 year lease on it isn't important, the County has lawyers that can figure that out. They just don't WANT to. They'd rather waste it all.
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A billion for a building? Fairfax cant afford that. the Govt Center was about 100 milion in 92 The jail wings the same, The new MPSTOC 911 center was about 140 million in 2010 its loaded with high tech stuff. 160 M for a new Massey
is probably right. I dont know waht a new big HS costs now plenty I can imagine.

I do think replacing the Massey at the current site is a very bad idea, theres little parking there now.There is a large amount of land near the Fairfax Hospitol that was going to be the Pineridge High school site, its been a vegetable garden. That site would be ideal for a police & fire HQ as it is located near 495 and 66, the county owns the land under either the Schools or Parks. So the land is there gratis, and theres space to build a secure low rise facility. the old Police Admin building can be used by other county agencies, as well as the Old School admin which is Fire Marshals I think. They could all be at the Pineridge HS school site not to be confused with the Old Pineridge Elem school site where the old 911 center was , They will have that too and its only about a mile away for the SWAT Bomb and motorcylcle teams ect.

The Massey would be secured some lights left on, no one going in except maintenance and left in limbo till more money and better times come round then torn down and used a a public green till they need another parking lot.

It would also make a dandy 11th floor overservation tower resturaunt for rent in the public sector rehabbing only a couple of the higher floors for rental offices with a ac/heat system just for that area and the rest of the building sealed off till the whole building can be torn down.