Prison company opens new $57M Boca headquarters

Prison and immigrant detention center operator Geo Group has opened a newly built headquarters in Boca Raton, at a cost of $57 million, according to company securities filings.

Geo is one of the largest prison and detention center contractors in the world with $2.33 billion in 2018 revenue, up from $2.26 billion in 2017. The company is among those with detention center contracts being investigated by a Congressional committee over concerns of mistreatment of detainees. Geo says it has fixed issues concerning health and safety violations cited in a 2018 Department of Homeland Security’s inspectors report.

The company’s new headquarters is at 4955 Technology Way, featuring a white and cobalt blue contemporary look. Geo Chairman and CEO George Zoley “wanted to make sure he had an iconic building,” said Juan Calcedo, principal in charge of design at RLC Architects, which designed the headquarters. “He wanted to make sure the building stood out from the crowd.”

The new headquarters sits next to another contemporary tower occupied by Morgan Stanley. Geo’s new location is less than a mile from its previous leased headquarters at 621 NW 53rd St.

More than 400 headquarters employees have now moved into the new threestory building, said Christopher Ferreira, a spokesman for Geo. The building has 106,000 square feet of office space on top of 114,000 square feet of parking space.

Geo said the lease on its previous headquarters in Boca Raton was expiring and so the company decided to build a new headquarters. Planning for the building began in 2016 and construction was completed a few months ago, Ferreira said.

Zoley originally wanted a traditional headquarters design but RLC Architects suggested a more contemporary one to fit with the J.P. Morgan building next to it, according to Calcedo. The building has the latest in in energy-saving construction, heating and cooling systems, and lighting systems, he said.

RLC also recently designed the new headquarters for the Kauffman Lynn construction company in Delray Beach, and previously designed headquarters for Office Depot and NCCI in Boca Raton.

Malcolm Butters, whose Coconut Creek company sold the ready-to-build site to Geo, said he originally bought the land for $2 million and was holding onto it through the recession. The site was attractive because of access to Tri-Rail commuter train and other amenities, he said at the time.

Geo’s South Florida operations include the Broward Transitional Center, a detention center in Deerfield Beach, and the South Bay Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility, a prison in South Bay. Zoley told analysts in a recent earnings conference call that the company is cooperating with the Congressional committee.