State Department Expansion
18 02 2013The old Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery site has been a prime target for future development since it was closed down and the Navy moved out as a result of BRAC, and now there are plans underway to develop the campus into an expansion of the sites neighbor to the east, the Department of State.
State has a lot of office space in addition to the Foggy Bottom location throughout DC and VA and such a large site right next to the State headquarters building makes sense, however it will be interesting to see how the plans incorporates many of the smaller historic older buildings on the 11 acre site and create enough space to meet the need for hundreds of thousands of square feet for Department of State offices.
Need more space? For starters, kill some of those I-66 related ramps and bring back some of the L’Enfant grid in that area.
It should be used by the George Washington University – this would take expansion pressure by the university off the rest of Foggy Bottom and the historc buildings on the site are perfect for academic use! Plus mixed use campus activity would enliven the area around the clock instead of just having offices.
The three large buildings on the left have been housing dos personnel for years. I suspect state won’t do much exterior construction on the rest of the buildings and just reconfigure the interior spaces.
I have also heard the navy will continue to house at least one admiral in the houses as the deed that gave the land to the us requires the navy to maintain a continuous presence.