January 7, 2010
The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved preliminary and final site and building plans for the relocation of the Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) to the Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia. This proposal is a Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) project that is required to be completed by September 2011. Plans call for several buildings and parking garages on a 15.9 acre site. The complex is to be used to relocate approximately 6,409 personnel of the WHS and support components in the region. The project will provide administrative space for the units, agencies, and activities of the WHS. The Commission required the Department of the Army to complete and submit a final Transportation Management Plan (TMP) that will show different ways employees can get to work without using their cars. In addition, the Commission requested that the Army continue to work with the City of Alexandria to consider the feasibility of making additional architectural changes to the east and west towers.
The project site is located west of the intersection of Seminary Road and Interstate Route 395 in Alexandria. The Army selected the site after an extensive review of three possible Northern Virginia locations, and completion of the Army’s National Environmental Policy Act review of the three sites, in September 2008. The WHS campus will be operated under the control of the Fort Belvoir Army Garrison in Virginia.
See the Commission Action and Staff Recommendation
The Commission also approved proposed modifications to the Master Plan for the DHS Headquarters Consolidation at St. Elizabeths. Proposed modifications include modifying the size and shape of the building footprints for the USCG headquarters and parking garage, decreasing the height of the parking garage by constructing more of it underground, realigning Ash Street to accommodate the modified building footprints, and relocating the perimeter security near the historic cemetery. The DHS Headquarters Consolidation at St. Elizabeths is the largest project in the history of the General Services Administration and the largest federal project in the National Capital Region since construction of the Pentagon in the 1940s.
NCPC required the General Services Administration to report back following the conclusion of the 4(f) process that will examine proposed locations for an access road and interchange improvements on the St. Elizabeths campus and adjacent National Park Service land. GSA will also need to submit the access road and interchange improvements for Commission approval.
The Master Plan will be implemented in phases over eight years, with the current submission representing a portion of Phase I. Construction of the USCG headquarters is scheduled to begin in February 2010 and occupancy is scheduled to occur in March 2013. Congress appropriated a combination of FY 2009 and American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds for a total construction budget of $545,136,000.
See the Commission Action and Staff Recommendation
Delegated Decisions: Projects for which the Commission delegated decision-making authority to the Chairman, Executive Committee, or Executive Director.