By Kevin Shalvey
PBN Staff Writer
JOHNSTON - After a year of exploring its options, FM Global, Rhode Island’s largest private company, announced plans to build a $60 million headquarters and campus on a 93-acre parcel in Johnston.
Plans for the 340,000-square-foot, four-story building were finalized yesterday, the commercial property insurer said in a release. With a groundbreaking in the spring, the project, off Central Avenue, should be completed by mid-2009.
“Determining a convenient location for a new headquarters and campus – and being mindful of the needs of our 800 employees – were key factors in the decision,” said Shivan S. Subramaniam, FM Global chairman and CEO, in a statement.
“Securing approval of our plans and cooperation from state and town officials also was important in our evaluation process and we are particularly appreciative of the support we received from Governor [Donald L.] Carcieri and his staff, as well as Mayor [Joseph] Polisena and our neighbors.”
According to the company, the new building will have a smaller footprint, but make better use of the structure, which, in preliminary designs, is a glass-and-brick office building with a tri-level parking garage.
It will be designed to accommodate expansion as the company grows. It also is expected to meet U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards.
“The new headquarters and campus further reinforce our commitment to the state, where our company was established nearly 175 years ago,” Subramaniam said, “and our preference to remain in Johnston, where we’ve been headquartered for nearly 35 years.”
The 2009 opening of the new facility will coincide with the expiration – during July of that year – of the 25-year lease for FM Global’s Atwood Avenue headquarters. (The property was purchased in April by Capital Lease Funding Inc. (NYSE: LSE) READ MORE.)
FM Global began evaluating options for a new facility in late 2006. (It made those deliberations public LAST MONTH.)
FM Global is a $4.5 billion commercial property insurer with roots in Rhode Island that stretch back 170 years. It employs 4,700 people around the world including nearly 1,700 in southern New England, at its Atwood Avenue headquarters, its research campus in Glocester and its offices in Norwood and Waltham, Mass. Additional information is available at www.fmglobal.com.
