"The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Export-Import Bankplay vital roles in our government," GSA assistant regionaladministrator Anthony E. Costa notes. "GSA will make sure theiremployees end up with world-class workspace when it is done."According to the GSA's Federal Business Opportunities solicitationdated April 5, the entire project is expected to cost between $90and $100 million to complete, a figure that is well in excess ofthe property's proposed FY 2005 assessed value of $74 million.

Boasting a limestone facade, the Lafayette Building wasdeveloped in 1940 by Chicago's Holabird & Root and, today,enjoys a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. But theproperty's historic status extends beyond its architecture. As perdocuments from GSA's Historic Federal Buildings Program, theLafayette Building is also historically significant because it wasoriginally home--and continues to be home--to financial agenciescreated under the Roosevelt Administration and because it wasdeveloped privately as a speculative property for leasespecifically to the US Government.

However, it is the historic architectural integrity of thebuilding that DMJM and Flack will be responsible for maintainingduring the upgrade; the first such major procedure the building hasundergone in its lifetime.