President Donald Trump’s latest obsession is the FBI building that sits across Pennsylvania Avenue from his Trump International Hotel and experts say is no longer physically capable of housing the bureau.
The president has ranted about its ‘brutalist’ architecture and how it sits on ‘prime’ real estate in down town Washington D.C. even as it falls apart around the agency’s 9,500 employees.
‘It’s one of the brutalist-type buildings, you know, brutalist architecture. Honestly, I think it’s one of the ugliest buildings in the city,’ Trump said, according to sources who relayed his words to Axios.
President Trump is concerned about the FBI headquarters, which is old and falling apart
The FBI building sits across the street from the Trump International Hotel in downtown D.C.
President Trump, pictured with first lady Melania Trump, wants to know every detail about plans to renovate the FBI headquarters
But he doesn’t want to move the bureau, which takes up an entire city block – just spruce it up.
‘This is prime real estate, right on Pennsylvania Avenue,’ he said, sources told the news website. ‘This is a great address. They need to stay there. But it needs a total revamp.’
The J. Edgar Hoover Building, which is 43 years old, has been deteriorating for years and experts say it’s no longer fit to serve as headquarters for the FBI. But there has been no agreement on next steps – moving the bureau, building a new structure, or some combo of both – all options that would be expensive.
The Government Accountability Office estimated renovations would take 14 years at a cost of $1.7 billion while demolishing the building and rebuilding on the same site would take nine years and cost $850 million. Building a new headquarters else where would take seven years and cost $1.2 billion.
Congress would have to approve any final plan.
The president is viewing the project like he would over see a construction project for the Trump Organization, which built Trump Tower in New York City and other buildings for the president’s business empire.
Trump has reportedly told his Chief of Staff John Kelly that he wants to know every detail about a renovation: the cost per square foot, the materials used, and other specifics.
A White House official told Axios: ‘POTUS has interest in the issue and has met with FBI officials, but more importantly the GSA [General Services Administration] team. GSA has concerns that the building can’t be rehabilitated particularly given the security requirements and has relayed that to him.’
In 2017, as part of a plan to move the bureau to a new headquarters outside the city that was later abandoned, one of the final bidders in the project was a partnership led by Vornado Realty Trust, a New York developer that owns property in partnership with Trump and the firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a top White House adviser.
The president has unusual ties to the agencies involved in the process.
The GSA is landlord to his luxury hotel that sits within sight of the FBI building. And Trump has waged a war on the bureau over its investigation into Russia’s role in the election and he fired director James Comey, who lobbied hard for a new headquarters.
Trump has expressed interest in other renovation projects tied to the presidency: such as his decision to have the new Air Force One be painted red, white and blue.
A damaged wall surrounding the exterior of the J. Edgar Hoover Building
Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington D.C.
The Hoover Building is 43 years old
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leave after dinner at Trump International Hotel in April
However, Congress has not appropriated any money for an FBI project and no blue prints have been submitted in regards to the J. Edgar Hoover Building.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told the news website: ‘POTUS is always interested in building because he knows it better than anyone and has been very successful in it. He’s found GSA to be on it, ‘very impressive’ and ‘knowledgeable’ are the phrases he has used.’
Construction on the Hoover Building began in 1965 and was finished 10 years later. Stanislaw Gladych was the chief architect. Total cost was $126 million. President Gerald Ford dedicated the building on September 30, 1975.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building contains 2,800,876 square feet of internal space, and includes a special, secure system of elevators and corridors to keep public tours separate from the rest of the building. It has three floors below-ground and an underground parking garage.
By 2012, it was nearing the end of its useful lifespan, suffering from deterioration due to deferred maintenance and design problems.