Norton Says Report of FBI Remaining in D.C. Could Yield More Employees Housed at Hoover Building and Other Sites Across D.C. and More Economic Activity for the District

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the General Services Administration's (GSA) decision to keep the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters at the Hoover Building in the District of Columbia, as reported by the Washington Business Journal, could consolidate thousands of more FBI employees at the Hoover Building and lead to other FBI employees in the region being housed at nearby sites in the District. Norton is a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee, which would have to approve the new GSA plan. The FBI has said it needs roughly 2.1 million square feet of consolidated space, down from over 3 million the agency currently uses in the region. Norton said most of the space could likely be made available at the Hoover Building site because of today's requirement for a reduced footprint for office space in federal buildings, while the remaining space might be made available at sites such as in NoMa, the Southeast Federal Center, or several sites east of the Anacostia River. She said that there is a strong presumption in favor of federal agency consolidation, which should mean that GSA will be looking for space in close proximity to the current headquarters.

"We had assumed that the FBI headquarters would be leaving D.C., but the likely decision by GSA to keep it at the Hoover Building and consolidate more employees there, as well as the potential for FBI employees at nearby existing sites, could mean more economic activity and development for the District," Norton said. "The decision of what to do with the FBI was always a win-win for the District, because the FBI leaving the Hoover Building would have meant new private economic development along Pennsylvania Avenue. However, the federal government is not only the biggest employer in D.C., it is also the biggest stimulus for economic activity, such as retail. Therefore, keeping the headquarters in D.C. and increasing the number of FBI employees here would also be a victory for our city. I look forward to working with GSA and the FBI on potential sites across D.C. that would make for terrific places to house employees here."