Washington, DC (5/22/25)

An Urban Land Institute Washington (ULI) Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) recommended a roadmap to guide the disposition and redevelopment process of federal assets in Southwest Washington. The panel’s work concluded that redevelopment of the James V. Forrestal Building, current U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters, would create a gateway from the National Mall to the Southwest Waterfront and unlock redevelopment opportunities along the 10^th Street, SW corridor. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) sponsored the panel.

“NCPC was excited to partner with PBRB on this monumental effort so that we can provide planning context on future efforts to transform the capital’s monumental core,” said NCPC’s Executive Director Marcel Acosta. “This work presents a generational opportunity to re-envision and beautify the federal city while also improving government efficiency.”

In its report, the ULI panel recommended:

• Meeting DOE’s headquarters needs with a lease, whether it comes from existing federal or commercial office inventory, or new construction. This has the potential to provide long-term cost savings to taxpayers and provide modern and efficient spaces for DOE employees.
• Creating a vision plan for the Southwest area to guide property disposal, reuse, redevelopment, and infrastructure planning.
• Creating a coordinating entity for divestment and redevelopment in the Southwest area.
• Creating a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the coordinating entity and key stakeholders (such as the General Services Administration, NCPC, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, DC Office of Planning, District Department of Transportation, and Office of the Chief Financial Officer) to champion redevelopment and create transparency around the parameters of the redevelopment effort.
• Identifying transaction structures that offer the greatest potential through redevelopment.
• Identifying capital sources (market and public-private partnership tools) and possibilities dependent upon transaction structures.
• Identifying an intended public benefit user (such as the Smithsonian Institution, health care organizations, universities, or non-profits) for transfer of a public/civic parcel of the site.
• Redeveloping the parcels, with uses likely to succeed based on current market factors, to include 2.4 million square feet of residential space (2,443 units), 800,000 square feet of museum/cultural space, 200,000 square feet of hotel space (286 keys), 200,000 square feet of office space, and 73,791 square feet of retail space.

“We have a valuable opportunity before us at the Forrestal Complex and it has been years in the making. The proposed roadmap includes practical, thoughtful, and adaptable approaches that present a win-win-win for the government, development community, and the American taxpayers, to fully leverage the potential of the site,” said Norman Dong, ULI TAP Chair.

The TAP also recommended that more than half of the redeveloped area be incorporated for multifamily uses, with the remainder of the 1.7 million gross-square-foot parcel to be used for cultural, hotel, or office space, as well as ground-floor retail development along 10^th Street, SW.

“NCPC has long been a proponent of transforming this area into a well-connected, mixed-use neighborhood, workplace, and cultural destination that connects the National Mall and the Southwest Waterfront,” added Acosta. “The largest impediment to accomplishing this is the Forrestal Complex which sits between the thriving Wharf and the National Mall’s cultural institutions. This report provides guidance on how to achieve this goal.”

Operating costs for the Forrestal Complex currently exceed $41 million annually and requires more than $202 million in immediate capital repairs. Given those extraordinary costs, and the potential impact redevelopment could have on Southwest, the TAP determined that adaptive reuse of the complex would not be financially viable and recommended that the buildings be totally razed for redevelopment.

“Meeting DOE’s headquarters needs with an alternative to the James V. Forrestal Complex has the potential to provide long-term cost savings to taxpayers given current spending on rent, operations, and maintenance and provide modern, efficient workspaces for DOE employees,” said the PBRB’s Acting Chairman Talmage Hocker.

Hocker continued, “The TAP anticipated that once the Forrestal Building is redeveloped, there will be a catalytic impact on development in Southwest, including disposition and redevelopment of other federal assets and redevelopment of private buildings for other uses, resulting in a net increase of 1.9 million square feet of floor area ratio (FAR) and $150.9 million in new tax revenue.”

The TAP also strongly recommended that all dispositions be done sequentially and in a thoughtful way so that the market is not potentially flooded with empty federal buildings.

The James V. Forrestal Complex is a three building brutalist structure constructed in 1969 at 1000 Independence Avenue, SW. The Forrestal Complex has 1.8 million rentable square feet and sits on 11 acres. The building was originally built for the military, and housed offices of the U.S. Navy between 1969 and the creation of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1977. It is named after James V. Forrestal, the first United States Secretary of Defense.

The full report is available online on ULI’s Knowledge Finder Platform here.

TAP panelists included Chair Norman Dong, Partner, FD Stonewater; Yolanda Cole, Senior Principal, Hickok Cole; Katie Cristol, Chief Executive Officer, Tysons Community Alliance; Vicki Davis, Managing Partner, Urban Atlantic; Ellen McCarthy, Principal, The Urban Partnership; Kirk Mettam, Senior Vice President, TYLin; Joshua Olsen, Senior Vice President for Acquisitions, Monument Realty; and Gerry Widdicombe, Chief Financial Officer, DowntownDC BID.

ULI Washington’s Technical Assistance Panel program provides expert, multidisciplinary advice on land use and real estate issues facing public agencies and nonprofit organizations in the National Capital Region.

To date, ULI Washington has completed more than 65 TAPs. Drawing from its extensive membership base, ULI Washington conducts two-day panels offering objective and responsible advice to local decision-makers on a wide variety of land use and real estate issues, ranging from site-specific projects to public policy questions. The TAP program is intentionally flexible to provide a customized approach to specific land use and real estate issues.

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a global, member-driven organization comprising more than 45,000 real estate and urban development professionals dedicated to advancing the mission of shaping the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. ULI’s interdisciplinary membership represents all aspects of the industry, including developers, property owners, investors, architects, urban planners, public officials, real estate brokers, appraisers, attorneys, engineers, financiers, and academics. uli.org.

About ULI Washington

ULI Washington is one of ULI’s largest District Councils worldwide, with 2,300 members. We welcome membership and participation from individuals who share our commitment to responsible land use to sustain the growth and prosperity of the National Capital Region. The opportunity to influence local land use policy remains the focus and achievement of ULI Washington. washington.uli.org.

About PBRB

The Public Buildings Reform Board was established through the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 with the purpose of identifying and recommending federal properties for divestment. The Board was established in 2019 as an independent, bipartisan agency whose sole mission is to identify and recommend federal properties for sale, and to make recommendations for how to streamline the disposal process for those properties. The legislation mandates a series of reports and recommendations, and the Board will sunset in December 2026. pbrb.gov

About NCPC

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) is the federal government’s central planning agency in Washington, DC and surrounding counties of Maryland and Virginia. The Commission provides overall guidance for federal land and buildings in the region. It also reviews the design of federal projects and memorials, oversees long-range planning for future development, and monitors capital investment by federal agencies. ncpc.gov