The Howard Hughes Corporation and Columbia Association held
a briefing this morning to announce that CA had signed a lease for a 27,000
square foot fitness facility on the ground floor of the former Rouse
headquarters building in downtown Columbia .
CA will join Whole Foods in the re-purposed office building once a major rehabilitation
has been completed.
Extensive interior work on the Frank Gehry designed building
is expected to begin next year and will include the removal of the entire third
floor. Howard Hughes expects to turn the lake level space over to CA in early
2014 and CA expects the new facility to open in late summer/early fall of the
same year. Howard Hughes is expected to relocate their offices to another building
in downtown during the construction.
At the announcement this morning Ken Ulman pointed out that this building was the only building singled out in the Town Center redevelopment legislation for preservation.
This lease will effectively bring the iconic white building to full
occupancy for the first time in over five years.
