The cost of a consolidated FBI headquarters in suburban Maryland or Northern Virginia will spike by as much as $100 million every year that the General Services Administration delays moving the agency out of D.C.
That’s according to one estimate from Prince George’s County, which urged the federal government to resume the selection process stalled in March for a lack of sufficient federal funds. County Executive Rushern Baker called on the acting head of the GSA in a June 7 letter to make a decision on the FBI’s new headquarters without further delay to avoid incurring additional costs.
“I write to argue that the time is now for the federal government to announce the chosen site and developer for the FBI headquarters, and to proceed with beginning the design state of this multi-year project,” Baker’s letter to GSA Acting Administrator Timothy Horne, obtained by the Washington Business Journal, read in part.
So, how does the county get at that $100 million figure? David Iannucci, a top economic development official for Prince George’s, said it assumes construction costs will continue to increase at around 4 percent a year. Based on that annual increase percentage, 4 percent of $2.5 billion works out to $100 million.
“Every year that goes by, this gets more expensive,” Iannucci said.