LARGO, Fla. — State lawmakers resorted to name-calling Wednesday in an ongoing fight over the relocation of a federal building. Virginia leaders struck a nerve with their competitors in Maryland when they pitched themselves as the best location of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters.
The issue to replace the crumbling FBI building in downtown D.C. with a new campus in the suburbs has festered for more than a decade. Questions about racial equity and huge economic stakes are making the competition intense.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Maryland authorities had not been truthful, in their attempt to persuade federal officials to choose one of the two Prince George's County sites competing for the proposed 2.1-million-square-foot headquarters. He advocated instead for choosing the Virginia location in Springfield.
"Our friends across the river have done everything they can to try to cook the books to get FBI to locate in Maryland," Connolly said.
The comments drew a sharp rebuke from Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who claimed the criteria for siting the new FBI headquarters had been suddenly "manipulated" to favor Virginia's bid after a 10-year process.
"It is so intellectually dishonest of Virginia and really, to be honest, quite laughable," Alsobrooks said. “The whole thing stinks to high heaven, and anyone who can't smell that, something's wrong with their smeller.”
Virginia authorities pointed out VRE rail service links the site to the FBI training academy at Quantico.
“With the exception of the NSA, virtually every other intelligence agency is in Virginia, and this site would be closer," Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said.
But Alsobrooks and other Maryland leaders cried foul in October when criteria for deciding where to put the site were suddenly changed to make proximity to the FBI training center at Quantico, Virginia a top priority. The county executive saod she believed concerns about racial equity should rank higher.
“Although we have 20% of the federal workforce, we only have 4% of the federal office jobs in Prince George's County," she said. “Everyone looking at this can see exactly what it is. It's what we've seen over and over again. And to be honest with you, we're sick of it."
The preferred Prince George's site in Greenbelt is directly served by a Metro stop on raw land that Alsobrooks described as "shovel ready."
The Virginia site in Springfield needs a bus link to Metro and would require tearing down existing buildings already there owned by the General Services Administration.
The federal government is set to decide this year where to site the new FBI complex.
Here are a few key facts about the project:
- Development and construction spending is estimated to total at least $2.5 billion.
- 7,500 direct jobs will move to the new headquarters
- 25,000 jobs linked to vendors and contractors servicing the agency would also be created
- Economic activity expected to generate hundreds of millions in new state and local tax revenue