Soon the Hutchinson Metro Center will be home to the New York Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
Recently the U.S. General Services Administration signed a 10-year lease for approximately 20,000 square feet of office space in Tower One at 1250 Waters Place. The facility is still being renovated, but officials expect the office to be in operation by the first quarter of 2011.
“We are very pleased that the Hutchinson Metro Center has been selected by the federal government for ATF’s New York Field Office,” Joseph Simone, president of Simone Development Companies, which developed the office complex, said.
“The Hutchinson Metro Center continues to attract governmental agencies on the federal and local level that are looking for Class A office space in a convenient and central location.”
GSA did not return phone calls for comment about the number of employees that will occupy the space.
The ATF will be moving the offices, which focus on investigating arson, explosives and firearms trafficking, from its previous location on Queens Boulevard in Queens. This will be the only ATF field office in the Bronx.
The office will occupy an entire floor of the building, which features 280,000 square feet of space on nine floors and four floors of parking.
The ATF is a department of the U.S. Department of Justice that fights violent criminals and organizations by investigating the illegal trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombing, acts of terrorism and illegal sale of alcohol and tobacco products.
Since opening its doors two years ago, the Hutch Metro Center has attracted several state and federal agencies, and helped to make the area a major hub for government offices.
“In addition to our easy access to major highways and public transportation, the Hutchinson Metro Center also offers excellent access to a large and growing labor pool,” Simone said. “We anticipate that the development of New York City’s 9-1-1 Call Center just north of our site will attract a growing number of federal, state and city agencies to this area of the Bronx.”The call center is currently under construction.
The 42-acre Hutchinson Metro Center complex also houses a division of the New York Housing Authority and offices for the Internal Revenue Service. Along with the full-service Metro Cafe, fitness center, and state-of-the-art teleconferencing center, on-site child care and an attended gate house with 24-hour security, the center officers a landscaped courtyard, a full service branch of Hudson Valley Bank, an on-site pharmacy, a dry-cleaning center, sundry shops and complimentary shuttle services from the nearby subway.
