Plans for a consolidated home for the newest Cabinet agency, the Homeland Security Department, are laid out in impressive detail in a series of documents that were submitted to federal planning officials earlier this week.
Here are some highlights:
The original 1850s building on site will be renovated and used as the main offices for the secretary and his staff.
- The master plan calls for 4.5 million square feet of new and existing office space, plus another 1.5 million square feet of parking.
- Most of the development will be located on the west campus of the former St. Elizabeths mental hospital, a 176-acre site in southeast Washington that predates the Civil War. However, about 750,000 square feet of office space and another 270,000 square feet of parking will be located across the street on the city-owned east campus, where the current St. Elizabeths hospital operates.
- About 14,000 headquarters-level employees will be located on the two campuses.
- The final draft of the master plan totals 140 pages — not including three appendices — and has been under development for the past year. A separate 189-page plan covers transportation issues related to the development, while a 166-page opus details the preservation, design and development guidelines that are being followed.
The Fine Arts Commission is scheduled to vote on the final plan at its Nov. 20 meeting, while the National Capital Planning Commission will consider the plan at its January meeting.
Assuming both panels approve the final plan, federal officials then will have to turn to the next challenge: getting the project funded. The General Services Administration has requested $347 million this year for the first phase of the three-phase project, but it and most other agencies are under a continuing budget resolution through March.
No Comments
It is appropriate that a mental hospital be chosen as the new headquarters building of the Department of Homeland Security.