"The project has been in development to enable IMF to create a more efficient physical plant that will consolidate a number of operations currently spread around the District of Columbia," says the deputy director of IMF's Technology & General Services Department, the office overseeing the development. "We expect our newest building will enhance the Foggy Bottom neighborhood and the operations of IMF." In addition to the class A office space, what lies in store at the site once known as the Thomas Edison building is a three-level underground parking garage, a 450-seat meeting area, a training facility for the IMF Institute, a 2-story restaurant, as well as ground-level retail space.

The Weihe Design Group-designed structure marks one of the District's first construction projects to incorporate building security guidelines stipulated by the National Capital Planning Commission's post-September 11 Urban Design and Security Plan. But many safeguards would have been incorporated into the design despite the terror attacks. "With regard to extra security, it's not necessarily related to September 11," CarrAmerica spokesperson Maureen Wheeler tells GlobeSt.com. "It's just that they do have a lot of security needs. They'll have raised planters and benches that are blast resistant, creating a standoff, and their landscaping will incorporate security features. Their security meets General Services Administration class C criteria." IMF is expected to take up occupancy in the building in mid-2005.