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Reagan Trade Building
One of those amazing government projects, the Reagan International Trade Building was named for Reagan after he was found to be going totally senile. Reagan's Secretary of Commerce (the department which monitors international trade) was headed by Malcolm Baldridge, a respected cabinet member who died in a horse accident while secretary in 1987 and was replaced by C William Verity. (Reagan's successor, George Bush, put in Robert Mosbacher who later came out in favor of abolishing the Department.)
Scheduled to open in 1997, this building will become the second largest building in Washington DC, next to the Pentagon (which isn't really in Washington DC anyway). Originally it was envisioned as purely a government office building, consolidating the trade functions of several agencies in one place. It has had trouble attracting occupants, however, since the cost per square foot to rent room here is roughly twice the rate at the Department of Commerce across the street (which you can't see) and about fifty percent more than rates in other office buildings in the area. In the days of government cutbacks, many agencies can't afford to move into this building so it's been opened to outside occupants but even then it's been tough sailing.
Our office was scheduled to move in here originally but budget concerns have made the move questionable.
The domed area on the corner is to become a restaurant.
Note the red tile roofing which is designed to fit into the other buildings of the Federal Triangle complex.
The little sliver of a building that you can see to the right is the corner of the District Building, where the office of the mayor of Washington DC was. As it is, the building's run down so the mayor and city council works elsewhere now. The Washington Monument is seen rising above that. |