Dynetics breaks ground on office to consolidate staff

Dynetics Inc. is breaking ground today on a four-story, 160,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Cummings Research Park.

The new building will allow the company, which provides research, development and engineering services and products, to consolidate its 700 Huntsville employees, who are now spread out over seven facilities throughout Huntsville, said Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics chief executive officer.

The new building will also allow the firm to continue to grow, Bendickson said. Dynetics' business and contractual growth has required that it hire nearly 150 employees a year to meet customer needs, he said, and that rate of growth will probably continue for the next few years as well.

"To be successful, many of the research and development tasks we solve require teams of specialists with very different educational and professional backgrounds," Bendickson said. The new building has 21 conference rooms and a number of computer labs, he said.

The new building will house corporate executives and staff, special conference and training facilities, classified and special program analysis and computer areas, an expanded library and a fitness center. The new building will be at 1000 Explorer Blvd., the site of two existing Dynetics buildings, bringing the Dynetics campus to about 277,000 total square feet.

Construction is scheduled to start Dec. 27 and be completed in summer 2006.

Dynetics was founded in Huntsville in 1974 by Herschel Matheny and Dr. Stephen Gilbert. It was the first company to locate in Cummings' western section.

Dynetics has 950 employees companywide and annual sales of about $180 million. The company has 12 locations outside Huntsville, including Detroit; Washington, D.C.; San Antonio; Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.; and Tullahoma, Tenn.

In the past month, Dynetics has received contract awards with ceilings totaling more than $320 million.

Dynetics subsidiary Aviation and Missile Solutions was recently awarded a $303 million firm-fixed-price contract by the Army Aviation and Missile Command for technical domain advisory and assistance services. Ninety percent of the work will be performed in Huntsville. Dynetics was also awarded a $20 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to develop and modify the Air Force Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. That involves range complex systems, facilities and test infrastructure required for test and evaluation of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence and munitions systems.

The new building is designed by Larrell Hughes of L. Hughes Associates. B.L. Harbert International is the general contractor.