The General Services Administration wants to sign a long-term lease for part of the FBI now in Southwest D.C. as a temporary measure while the law enforcement agency’s proposed consolidation remains indefinitely on hold.
The GSA recently sent a lease prospectus to oversight committees in the House and Senate seeking permission to lease up to 180,000 square feet for the FBI’s security division, now based at 375 E St. SW near the Federal Center SW Metro station. The division has been in that building, known as Patriot Plaza II, since 2011, at an annual rental rate of nearly $7.4 million. It is one of many pieces of the FBI’s headquarters staff to be shifted to a new headquarters facility.
When that comes to pass, and where, is still very much up in the air. The GSA and FBI have proposed building a new headquarters for the FBI on the site of the agency’s J. Edgar Hoover Building at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW that would include the security division. Lawmakers in the House and Senate have pushed back against that plan, with many calling for the agency to be moved to a suburban location in Maryland or Virginia instead.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Daniel J. Sernovitz over at the Washington Business Journal