CaseStudy:Update on St. Elizabeths

The General Services Administration (GSA), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Capital Planning Commission, the District of Columbia State Historic Preservation Office, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) executed a Programmatic Agreement (PA) for the redevelopment of the Saint Elizabeths West Campus, which is part of the Saint Elizabeths National Historic Landmark (NHL). Section 106 consultation involved many local organizations and groups that were interested in this project due to the historic significance of the NHL and the complexity of the redevelopment.

GSA’s client for the development is the DHS, which will use the site for its new headquarters. The final negotiated proposal will reduce some impacts to the historic resource by moving approximately 700,000 square feet of development to the nearby Saint Elizabeths East Campus, owned by the District of Columbia government. This alternative, along with a redistribution of square footage, reduces the West Campus development to 3.8 million square feet from the original proposal of 4.5 million square feet. In addition, detailed preservation guidance documents were developed to give proper consideration to the important contributing elements to the NHL site (i.e., buildings and landscape) consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards as the project proceeds.

The PA commits GSA to retain and reuse more than 90 percent of existing historic structures, and to develop a landscape management plan to protect to the maximum extent practicable the historic campus setting. In addition, public outreach includes establishing a citizens advisory panel to assist GSA in the interpretation and management of the historic site, the creation of a Saint Elizabeths museum/visitors education center, and pursuing a relationship with a recently reopened vocational high school training academy (Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering Academy).