In the run-up to a final decision on where to build a new FBI headquarters, Govs. Larry Hogan and Terry McAuliffe have engaged in a high-stakes bidding war aimed at persuading federal officials to relocate the FBI’s 11,000 jobs to their states, raising the costs on a prize that both men view as a cornerstone of their economic agendas.
In Maryland, Hogan, R, has committed to providing $317 million in state and local funds for road, transit and infrastructure improvements should the feds build the project in Greenbelt, Maryland, or $255 million should they build it in Landover, Maryland.
In Virginia, McAuliffe, R, offered an estimated $120 million toward improvements in Springfield, plus land capable of accommodating federal facilities that need to be relocated from the Springfield site.
For more than a decade, the FBI has been pushing for a new headquarters to replace the dated and crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington, D.C. The General Services Administration, which is overseeing the project, wants to trade the Hoover Building site and as much as $1.8 billion in cash to a developer in exchange for a 2.1-million-square-foot secure campus in Landover, Greenbelt or Springfield that could cost in excess of $2.5 billion.
Bids for the project are due Wednesday, and the government plans to select one by year’s end.
The governors made their financial commitments separately in letters outlining their support for the project, both of which were acquired by The Washington Post.
At the direction of President Obama and congressional leaders, the GSA has grown increasingly cost-focused in recent years, jettisoning buildings it no longer needs and consolidating employees into ever smaller and more efficient buildings when possible.
With that in mind, both governors offered long lists of improvements they would fund in order to lower the development costs for their respective sites.
Maryland “remains fully committed toward working collaboratively with the FBI, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the selected developer on a new modern headquarters that allow the FBI to best meet its 21st century and law enforcement mission,” Hogan wrote in his letter, dated June 15.
Hogan outlined $220 million he would put toward road and intersection improvements needed in Greenbelt, where the FBI campus would be built outside the Greenbelt subway station. That includes $172 million from the state’s Transportation Trust Fund ($22 million of which is in the state’s 2017 budget), plus an additional $48 million that would be subject to approval by the General Assembly.
Officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland, have offered $97 million toward a replacement parking garage for the Greenbelt site, bringing the Maryland’s total commitment to $317 million.
Should the federal government choose the former Landover Mall site, Hogan committed the same $220 million toward a series of improvements better linking the site with the beltway, and the county offered an additional $35 million to help pay for a new four-lane bridge of I-95 and a proposed tunnel under Route 202.
Though the commitments are for roads and infrastructure — not the actual FBI building — their costs approach those of past signature development projects. FedEx Field cost an estimated $250 million to build in 1996 (about $385 million in today’s dollars).
“Gov. Hogan has been incredibly clear that he really wants this project,” said Karen Glenn Hood, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Commerce. “And I think this letter illustrates we are doing everything we can do to make this a win for us.”
In his letter, from June 8, McAuliffe said he and Fairfax County officials were committed to providing all the identified transportation improvements at Springfield, including improved connections to Fairfax County Parkway and I-95. Experts peg those costs at around $120 million.
“As you are well aware, of the three sites on the short list, Springfield requires the least amount of transportation improvements,” McAuliffe wrote.
McAuliffe and Virginia leaders have another concern however: a CIA facility on the Springfield site, the relocation of which has been pegged at more than $210 million. McAuliffe said that he was committed to finding a place in the commonwealth where it can be moved.
“In collaboration with our congressional delegation, we have already been working closely with GSA and tenants to find suitable relocation sites and to offset projected costs,” he wrote.
Maurice Jones, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade, said he was confident the support would put the bidders in position to win the deal for Springfield.
“This is a commitment that we made to the bidders, and we will fulfill that commitment through and through,” Jones said.
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