Johns Hopkins to Acquire Iconic Building in Washington, D.C.
Dear Johns Hopkins Community:
I am delighted to inform you that late yesterday the university’s trustees approved the acquisition of the Newseum building located on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of the nation’s capital. This award-winning building—just steps from Congress, the White House, and the National Mall—will be renovated to house the university’s current activities in Washington. When completed, the facility will offer more than 400,000 square feet of space.
Since 1950, our activities in D.C. have been anchored by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Today, SAIS is joined by the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Carey Business School, and the School of Nursing, as well as other university endeavors in the city. In fact, we now have more than 3,300 university faculty, staff, and students in the capital.
Over the last several years, we have been considering a number of different options designed to bolster and modernize our presence in D.C. Further, we had hoped to secure additional faculty offices and research spaces, modern spaces for students, and a range of differently sized venues for public convening.
It is against this backdrop that we are taking this exciting step, which will be made possible through the sale of our existing properties in D.C., university funds, and generous philanthropic support.
With the acquisition and renovation of the Newseum, we will have an unparalleled opportunity to bring all of our current D.C.-based Johns Hopkins graduate programs together in a single, landmark, state-of-the-art building. Moreover, the renovated building will provide opportunities for every academic division of the university to pursue research and educational activities in Washington—complementing and drawing on those conducted on our flagship Baltimore campuses and deepening our connections to debates over national and global policy. Our commitment to contributing our ideas and expertise to these debates lies at the core of what it means to be a vital and relevant university.
As we begin to plan the renovation of this building, we will work closely with our colleagues in D.C. and across the entire university to ensure that this renovation meets the needs and aims of our faculty, students, and staff, and nurtures effective and meaningful engagement with external stakeholders in Washington and beyond.
We are thrilled to collaborate with you on this stunning opportunity, and look forward to creating together a new D.C. location that fully reflects our identity as a premier academic research institution and brings the best of Johns Hopkins to the nation and the world.
Sincerely,
Ronald J. Daniels
President
