The General Services Administration faced pushback Thursday over its selection of a site in Greenbelt for a new FBI headquarters, including from Christopher Wray, the director of the agency in question.
It’s not the first time the GSA, the federal government’s main civilian real estate arm, has been in conflict with a federal agency for whom it is seeking space.
The Equal Opportunities Employment Commission pushed back against its proposed move to NoMa, when the neighborhood was at the very start of its evolution, though the move went forward anyway. But things went differently for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, which beat back plans to move it and two other agencies to a different location — the GSA eventually issued a new space search.
It’s no surprise that not everyone is on the same page when it comes to the FBI’s headquarters search given the decision will impact thousands of employees, per federal real estate leasing expert Joe Delogu, founding partner of Arlington-based FD Stonewater, a real estate development and investment firm. Whether the GSA or FBI will prevail is unclear at this stage.
