Fed Reserve is spending $2.1Billion for a 1.1Million sf Renovation

Nothing to see here!

From LINK

What about the standard metric of cost per square foot? When the HQ upgrade is complete, the Eccles and 1951 Constitution Avenue buildings will have a total area of 1.1 million ft2, and hence upgrading these two buildings will cost about $2,300/ft2. In contrast, a premium 10-story office building in Washington DC now has a construction cost of about $600/ft2, while the construction cost for the JPMorganChase skyscraper is about $1,200/ft2—only half as much as the cost of the Fed’s HQ upgrade.

Will the Fed’s HQ upgrade produce savings over the longer run? No. Premium offices in the vicinity of the Fed’s HQ can be contracted at less than $60/ft2, and a high-end contract would allocate about 200 ft2 per employee. Thus, for the 960 Fed staff who will be working at 1951 Constitution Avenue, a comparable 30-year lease would cost about $260 million (assuming a 4% interest rate and a 2% inflation rate). In effect, a long-term lease would have cost only one-sixth as much as acquiring and upgrading this building.