Washington, D.C., June 3, 2013 – Today NPR begins offering tours of its new headquarters on North Capitol Street. Public tours of the building will take place each weekday at 11 a.m. The NPR Commons, a brick-and-mortar version of the popular online NPR Shop, will be located at the new headquarters, and will open in mid-June.
The new headquarters at 1111 North Capitol Street, NE unites NPR divisions and employees that had previously been working from three separate buildings in downtown DC. The heart of NPR’s new headquarters is an open, two-story newsroom with broadcast and production studios that can accommodate NPR’s 24/7 schedule. NPR’s news, music, programming and digital staff are co-located on these floors.
NPR has been headquartered in DC since its founding in 1970. Since then, NPR’s stature as a media organization and the popularity of its programming have grown rapidly, and the weekly audience for NPR programs has doubled. NPR’s initial staff of 90 worked from 1625 Eye Street, NW. Later NPR moved to 2025 M Street, but outgrew those offices in 1994 and relocated to 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW where it spent 19 years and was part of the revitalization of the Gallery Place/Penn Quarter district. In addition to its Washington, DC headquarters, NPR currently counts 17 international bureaus and 17 domestic bureaus in its service.
NPR’s new headquarters at 1111 North Capitol Street, NE was designed by the DC-based firm Hickok Cole Architects, and built by Balfour Beatty Construction. The 440,000 sq. ft. building features a four-story 1926 warehouse, the façade of which was preserved, combined with a new seven-story office tower.
As part of the move, NPR installed an all-digital system at its new headquarters. Where NPR’s 1994 headquarters was built around 1990’s technology-tape machines and analog equipment-its new headquarters is built around digital audio and technology such as mobile phones that are now important news and content gathering tools. In going 100 percent digital, NPR will now be able to take advantage of improvements in content generation that are only available with new digitally based technologies.
Read more about the NPR headquarters or sign up for a free tour, click here. Read the official NPR press release.
About NPR
About NPR: NPR is an award-winning, multimedia news organization that reaches 26 million radio listeners each week, and nearly 20 million people monthly on digital platforms. In collaboration with more than 900 independent public radio stations nationwide, NPR strives to provide the public with a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. To find local stations and broadcast times, visit www.npr.org/stations
About NoMa
NoMa is a vibrant, growing neighborhood north of Union Station and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the last seven years, private developers have invested more than $5 billion in the 35-block areas in the NoMa BID boundary, and have plans to develop more than 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space. NoMa is now home to 45,000 daytime workers, with 4.5 million SF leased in the last 4.5 years. More than 3,900 apartments have been recently completed or are under construction. NoMa has 13 modes of transportation, including two Red Line Metro stops, and the best biking facilities in D.C., with the only East Coast Bikestation, the 8-mile Metropolitan Branch Trail, and access to nine Capital Bikeshare stations. NoMa is the most connected neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The NoMa BID organizes more than 50 free community events each year to connect friends and neighbors. For more information about NoMa, visit nomabid.wpengine.com and sign up for our bimonthly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @NoMaBID and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nomabid.
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For immediate release
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Rachel Davis
202-997-3846