Next Steps

Now that it has narrowed the site possibilities down to three GSA's next step will be to award a contract to evaluate them, which it plans to do next month, it says. The public will have the opportunity to comment during this phase of the project.

WASHINGTON, DC–The US General Services Administration has identified three sites for potential locations for the US Labor Department. They are in:

• NoMA, at the intersection of North Capitol street and New York Ave. in the northeast quadrant;

• the Capitol Riverfront at the intersection of M street and South Capitol street in the southwest and;

• Anacostia's Poplar Point in the southeast.

Last year, GSA abruptly announced that it was seeking a new facility for US Labor Department. The alternative, it said in its announcement, would be a “costly renovation” of the 1.8 million square foot Frances Perkins Building — a 41-year-old building located at 200 Constitution Avenue NW, that is in need of modern heating, electrical, plumbing and elevator systems, according to the GSA.

A lease in a new building would be difficult given that there are few if any viable buildings in the District large enough for the Labor Department's needs. (The law requires that Cabinet-level departments are located within the District of Columbia.)

Instead, as it did with its search for a new FBI headquarters, GSA issued a Notice of Intent “exploring an exchange of the current headquarters and the underlying approximately 10.5-acre parcel.”

It also issued a Request for Expressions of Interest for a site that would accommodate approximately 850,000 square feet to 1.4 million rentable square feet.

Next Steps

Now that it has narrowed the site possibilities down to three GSA's next step will be to award a contract to evaluate them, which it plans to do next month, it says. The public will have the opportunity to comment during this phase of the project.