The Aiken Corporation Building


By Don Moniak
December 6, 2023

Four tenants from Washington Group to Amentum have leased the Aiken Corporation’s Newberry Street Office Building. The names of each tenant have shined in large gold letters on both the Aiken Corporation building and above the City of Aiken’s Performing Arts Center marquee. No naming rights fees are paid for the latter privilege.

As described in the three-part series “The Amentum Model,” the “Amentum Building refers to the office building at 106 Newberry Street, SW. The term “Amentum model” is a misnomer, since the Amentum company is a newcomer to the City of Aiken and was itself not formed until 2020.

The office building is owned by the Aiken Corporation, and the City of Aiken owns the connected Center for the Performing Arts. The Amentum name has only glittered from both facilities since 2020. The building might be better referred to as the “Aiken Corporation Building,” and the process that led to its establishment as “the Aiken Corporation Model.”

Four corporate tenants have occupied the Aiken Corporation’s 20,000 square foot office building at 106 Newberry Street SW since it was built in the early 2000’s. Each tenant has been a Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) contractor that have had their names in prominent gold lettering on the leased office building and the performing arts center.

The Aiken Center for the Performing Arts Center is owned by the City of Aiken and leased to the Aiken Community Theatre group. That lease was renewed in June of 2022.

The first Aiken Corporation Building tenant was the Washington Group, which moved into the building in 2002; and had its name placed upon both the Aiken Corporation Building and the Performing Arts Center. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: The first tenant. Source: Aiken Corporation.

In 2007, the URS corporation acquired Washington Group, and the marquee on both buildings changed for the first time (Figure 2). No naming rights fee was charged to URS for having its name on the Center for the Performing Arts building.

Figure 2: URS name adorning the Performing Arts Center.

In 2012 AECOM purchased URS and became the lead contractor in the consortium known as Savannah River Remediation (SRR), which held the multi-billion dollar contract for processing highly dangerous and unstable radioactive liquid waste into a less dangerous and more stable form. The marquees changed to the AECOM name, but the company paid no naming right fees.

Figures 3 and 4. AECOM name on Aiken Corporation Building and Center for the Performing Arts

In 2020 Amentum was created when private equity firms purchased AECOM’s Management Services Division and renamed the new company Amentum.  The Amentum name then graced the entrance to the Center for the Performing Arts. (Figures 5 and 6) No naming rights fees are paid. 

Figures 5 and 6.

Amentum is in the process of merging with Jacobs’ (NYSE:J) Critical Mission Solutions (CMS) and Cyber and Intelligence (C&I) businesses.
Whether another name change on the Aiken Corporation Building and the Center for the Performing Arts is in the works is unknown.