A $1.1 billion, 3.8 million-square-foot U.S. Food and Drug Administration complex in the White Oak section of eastern Montgomery County is now more than halfway complete, as officials this week dedicated the eighth of 14 planned buildings.

About 1,300 employees from the Center for Devices and Radiological Health are in the process of moving to the new six-story, 396,000-square-foot building, FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said. Building 66 will be connected to the rest of the campus through underground tunnels and pedestrian sky bridges, she said.

All employees are expected to be moved by May 30, which will bring the entire complex's total to some 4,750 workers, said Michael McGill, a spokesman for the U.S. General Services Administration, which is working with the FDA on the consolidation project.

Employees are being moved from numerous buildings scattered throughout Montgomery and Prince George's counties, he said. Eventually, almost 8,000 workers are expected to move to the complex.

The consolidation will save resources and time to have all FDA employees in one complex, said Sue Walitsky, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) of Pikesville. The buildings also employ many environmentally friendly features that will result in greater savings for taxpayers, she said.

President Obama's fiscal 2010 budget calls for $138 million to continue the project. Cardin called for more federal funding, saying he had requested $300 million for the FDA complex in the 2010 financial services appropriations bill.

Unless GSA gets the money it needs, the project will not be completed on time, Cardin said in a statement.

"We cannot afford to delay the efficiencies, partnerships among scientists and researchers, and the use of new technology that the FDA consolidation here at White Oak is designed to achieve," the statement read.

So far, the White Oak project has been completed on time and within budget, said Cardin, who was among the group of officials who formally dedicated the newest building.

Not only were the FDA's almost 8,000 employees scattered among 39 buildings in the two Maryland counties, but laboratories were outdated, overcrowded and failed to meet health and safety standards, he said.

"The new high-tech infrastructure will provide FDA with an opportunity for innovation and more effective use of technology to meet challenges in product safety, global markets and increased consumer demand," Cardin said.

Two other buildings are planned to open this year, McGill said. The final four are planned for completion by 2013, if congressional funding is awarded. The complex was originally a naval weapons testing base until it closed in the 1990s. Seven of the eight completed buildings are new, with the first one opening in 2003.

Construction management for the FDA complex is headed by a joint venture involving Heery International and Tishman Construction Corp. Grunley Construction Co. of Rockville was the general contractor for the renovated building, which was completed last year. The structure was the headquarters of the Naval Surface Warfare Center for more than five decades.

New hospital,

office park planned

Other developments are planned for White Oak near the FDA complex, including a new home for Washington Adventist Hospital and a 115-acre science and technology office park.

The office park, headed by Montgomery County, is to comprise some 800,000 square feet of office, laboratory and manufacturing space, a technology business incubator and a higher education facility. The project is modeled after the highly successful Shady Grove biotech park in Rockville near I-270.

The county recently purchased the land for $10 million. Cleanup work on the site, formerly a sludge composting center, is ongoing, said Kristina Ellis, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County economic development department.

Progress on the FDA complex should help the county move ahead with the office park, she said.

Washington Adventist Hospital, which has been in Takoma Park for more than a century, wants to move to a new 294-bed building next to the FDA complex by 2013. FDA and hospital officials have agreed to exchange information, create educational opportunities, conduct joint meetings and collaborate on research activities.

The Takoma Park site is planned to become a complex that will provide emergency care and classes for Columbia Union College nursing students.