The USDA National Detector Dog Training Center is a highly unique campus that is the only facility of its kind in the United States, serving an essential function in the housing and training of canines to service national airports throughout the United States for use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Built-to-suit for USDA in 2009, and certified to LEED Gold standards, this asset is leased for an original 20-year firm term with USDA, with approximately 7.5 years remaining. The lease is an exceptionally rare federal structure, with the tenant responsible for electricity, water, sewer, trash removal, janitorial services & supplies, pest control, lawn maintenance, maintaining equipment of government-provided and appliances, and security system monitoring. The lease is guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America, which has a credit rating of Aaa from Moody’s Investor Services and offers unrivaled income security.

The National Detector Dog Training Center (NDDTC) consists of eight specialized buildings which serve critical purposes unique to the canine training process. Throughout the term of the lease, USDA has continued to expand and add improvements to the NDDTC, evidencing their ongoing financial and operational commitment to the facility. Improvements include an Administration and Training Building, Training Area, Quarantine Building, Veterinarian Building, Kennel Building, and Warehouse Building. Due to the unique nature of this campus, the size of the facilities are dictated by capacity for canines rather than typical federal metrics of rentable square foot per person, which makes this asset less susceptible to footprint reductions.

Detector Dogs are an essential tool that have been utilized since the 1940s by USDA-APHIS and CBP to safeguard America’s agriculture and natural resources from harmful pests and diseases, working at airport terminals, and warehouses, seaports, mail facilities, and in the field. Expert APHIS teams train detector dogs at the NDDTC to search international passenger baggage, cargo, and parcels for prohibited agricultural product at major U.S. Ports of Entry, both airports and land border crossings. Trained detector dogs also search cargo facilities and postal distribution centers to identify mailed items that might include prohibited items, including invasive species.