National Archives Opens New Southeast Region Records Center Facility
Press Release · Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Washington, DC
Ellenwood, GA. . .The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will officially open its new, award-winning Southeast Region records center facility in the Southpark Industrial Park in Clayton County, GA at 10:00 a.m. on February 16, 2005. The event will feature a dedication ceremony, including remarks by NARA officials and local political leaders, and will be followed by a reception. This event is open to the press.
The new center will store and service records from every Federal agency located in the Southeast Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Major customers include the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Treasury, the U.S. Attorney Offices, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Energy, the Bureau of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Federal Courts.
The facility has a footprint of approximately 350,000 square feet and a storage capacity of nearly 1.75 million cubic feet of Federal records. It can accommodate 75 NARA staff members and contractors as well as 100 visitors and patrons. It is expected that the records center will handle three-quarters of a million reference requests annually. The facility will also be home to NARA's Southeast Region Records Management Program, which conducts training for Federal agencies and helps them properly identify, schedule, store, and use their Federal records.
"This state-of-the-art records center will allow NARA to better serve the Federal agencies that have entrusted us with the safekeeping of our nation's records," said Tom Mills, NARA's Assistant Archivist for Regional Records Services. "The facility represents what a modern records center should be--one that provides ample storage for paper records while anticipating our Federal customers' need for storage and servicing of electronic records."
The building has won awards for its architectural, security, and environmental features. It was recognized by the Atlanta Businesss Chronicle as "Best in Atlanta" in its annual competition that honors projects that are "changing the face of metro Atlanta". The NARA facility was cited in the "mixed/special use" category for its high level of security and its advanced systems to protect, preserve, and restore Federal records. The facility also won the Clayton County Water Authority's WISE Award which recognizes developments that demonstrate "considerable efforts and creativity toward the protection of Clayton County's water resources".
Federal records serve to document government transactions and protect rights of individuals and must be stored in appropriate space to ensure that they remain available for their schedule life. The Atlanta facility was designed and built to fully comply with the provisions of 36 CFR 1228 Subpart K, the Federal regulation that sets facility standards to ensure protection of the nation's records from threats such as fire, theft, pests, water damage and natural disasters. The efficient design of the new records center will also significantly reduce operating costs for this region, while improving records center services for Federal customers.
New to the Southeast Region records center will be state-of-the-art facilities, such as an on-site electronic records project/services room, a special projects room, and separate records containment, treatment, and recovery rooms. These facilities will enable NARA to roll out new services and operations after building occupancy and to be proactive in mitigating risks to Federal information assets.
NARA relocated its records center to Clayton County to expand into a larger, lower-cost, purpose-built space, close to transportation centers, the Georgia state archives, and the new National Archives facility in Morrow, GA. It is anticipated that the relocation of holdings and staff will generate jobs for local industries such as trucking companies and contract labor providers.
The facility was developed by Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW), one of the nation's largest real estate investment trusts. Commenting on the new NARA facility, Ed Fritsch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Highwoods, stated, "We were pleased and honored to have the opportunity to build this award-winning, state-of-the art facility for NARA. This project has been managed by our Atlanta-based team of experienced and dedicated development professionals and they have done an outstanding job completing this very sizable and high-quality facility for our U.S. Government."
THE PRESS IS INVITED TO COVER THE CEREMONY. The site is located at 4712 Southpark Boulevard, Ellenwood, GA 30294. A press station will be located adjacent to the stage; press should be set up by 9:45 A.M., as the ceremony begins promptly at 10:00 A.M. (Directions: Take I-675 to exit 7, Anvil Block Road - East, and proceed to the entrance of Southpark Business Park. Follow Southpark Boulevard to the NARA records center.)
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For press information, please contact NARA Southeast Regional Administrator James McSweeney at 404-763-7438.
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