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Home arrow Working with Section 106 arrow ACHP Case Digest arrow Fall 2004 arrow District of Columbia: Transfer of the Southeast Federal Center
District of Columbia: Transfer of the Southeast Federal Center

Agency: General Services Administration

As reported in the Summer 2004 Case Digest, the U.S. General Services Administration intends to sell or lease most of the Southeast Federal Center in Washington, DC, to private developers for mixed-use development.

The transfer project will affect six contributing structures within the National Register-eligible Washington Navy Yard Annex Historic District as well as the contextual industrial naval history of the center. The site is also adjacent to the Washington Navy Yard, which is a National Historic Landmark, and the DC Water and Sewer Authority Main Pumping Station of 1908, which is eligible for the National Register.

GSA also has identified four National Register-eligible archeological resources at the site, eight areas of archeological potential, and four other properties that must be further evaluated.

The ACHP extensively reviewed the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) draft Programmatic Agreement to address the long-term implications of the proposed development of the Southeast Federal Center.

Southeast Federal Center, Washington, DC (photo: GSA)

 

 

Southeast Federal Center, Washington, DC (photo: GSA)

 

 

While the draft agreement clarified the compliance responsibilities between GSA and the developer, Forest City Works, it lacked specific mitigation measures to address the range of activities related to selecting a developer, transferring the center’s 42 acres, reviewing the design, and implementing the project.

The ACHP, GSA, Forest City Works, the Washington, DC, State Historic Preservation Officer, and other consulting parties negotiated a master plan, historic preservation design guidelines, historic covenants, and a maintenance plan for the property transfer.

In August 2004, the ACHP gave GSA its final comments on the project. GSA indicated that a final draft of the agreement would be available in October 2004. For background information on this case, visit the Summer 2004 Case Digest at www.achp.gov/casessum04DC.html.

Staff contact: Hector Abreu Cintron

Posted December 17, 2004

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