The loan on the project covers 100% of the construction cost and the GSA's lease rate is such that the developer will be able to capitalize the cost of the project during the life of the lease, Shaw tells GlobeSt.com. Listed as Birmingham Field Office LLC, the developer is believed to be a Los Angeles firm, though it is working through the Kansas City, MO office of CB Richard Ellis.

Kansas City-based Hoefer Wysocki Architects LLC designed the facility. Atlanta-based Batson-Cook Co. is the lead builder for the project. The building will have a marble façade and, as might be expected, will contain a state-of-the-art security system. Project completion is scheduled for April 2005.

The project, rising at 1100 18th St. North, is envisioned as the anchor of a planned urban business park covering six- to eight blocks near the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The FBI is relocating from its current leased location at the 2121 Building on Eighth Avenue North for security reasons.