By Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 21, 2007

The District has formally abandoned its plan to move police headquarters to an industrial building in Southeast Washington that it began leasing in July but plans to use the building for other government offices, officials said yesterday.

The statements, made at a D.C. Council committee hearing, were the latest twist in the on-again, off-again project to move the headquarters from the main municipal building downtown to a vacant warehouse at 225 Virginia Ave. SE.

Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, said he was frustrated that the city has spent more than $2.5 million on the building since July: $542,000 a month in rent and $945,000 for design work that is unnecessary now that it will not house police headquarters.

"In addition to the $1.5 million that we've paid so far for empty space, we're now going to pay another million for plans we're not going to use," Mendelson said. "The administration said we may still go forward with this site."

In April, city officials said they planned to move police headquarters and several other police units, including the 1st Police District, to the new location.

But last month, Lars Etzkorn, director of the Office of Property Management, said that the cost to relocate all police functions was too expensive and that the move was off. The next day, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said that Etzkorn was wrong and that he had not made a decision.

At yesterday's hearing, Etzkorn said the police headquarters move has been discarded because it would cost more than $100 million to renovate the building and there would not be enough parking. He said that no police units will go to the Virginia Avenue building and that he instructed the landlord last month to terminate work at it.

Mendelson said city officials continue to make conflicting statements about the property, which it is leasing for $6.5 million a year.

"We're wasting money, and we're not improving public safety," he said. "The evidence warehouse is a disaster waiting to happen. Special Operations is in facilities falling down. Meanwhile, the DNA lab is stuck in neutral and slipping backwards."

Mendelson said City Administrator Dan Tangherlini had told him three times this week that the renovations at the Virginia Avenue warehouse have not stopped. After expressing a lack of confidence about the property management office, Mendelson said Etzkorn's statement was at "direct odds" with the executive branch.

Carrie Brooks, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said that Etzkorn asked the landlord to stop the design work for the police headquarters but that the building might be used as offices for other government agencies.

"Dan didn't disagree with that position," Brooks said. "They're talking about what other design options there are for the city because we're still tied to the lease we inherited."

The question, Brooks said, is how else the city can use the space for other government operations.

Two other council members, Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), also weighed in.

"The goal, first and foremost, is to use our own property," Schwartz said, adding that the District needs to stop renting from private developers. "I am not going to be held hostage by these private landlords."