Golden, Colo.—Western Area Power Administration employees, retirees and invited guests gathered in Lakewood, Colo., Sept. 23 for a groundbreaking ceremony that marked the beginning of construction of a new three-story, 97,000- square-foot office building at 12155 West Alameda Parkway.

Expected to be completed next summer, the building will house about 500 Federal and contract employees from Western's Corporate Services Office, currently located at the Denver West office complex in Golden. Western has an annual economic impact of nearly $20 million in the Denver metro area.

Among those attending the ceremony were Lakewood Mayor Linda Morton, General Services Administration Region 8 Administrator Polly Baca, Dominion Leasing, Inc. Vice President Jim Hunter and Western's first Administrator Bob McPhail. GSA is the Federal agency overseeing the project and Edmund, Okla.-based Dominion is the building construction company.

Western Administrator Michael S. Hacskaylo said the new building marks an "exciting future and a new beginning for a premiere power marketing administration in the United States."

A part of the U.S. Department of Energy, Western markets and transmits reliable, low-cost electric power to more than 600 wholesale customers, including cities, federal and state agencies and rural electric cooperatives in 15 central and western states.