Bypassed for Army Jobs, Springfield Pins Hopes on Mall's Renewal

"From their perspective, it was a center that was under-utilized, under-performing and yet had all sorts of advantages associated with it, including transportation infrastructure," said Mark Looney, a land-use attorney representing the company. He said Vornado's goal is for the mall to regain "its prominence as the gathering place for greater Springfield and breathe new life into what over time has become a tired regional shopping center."

Vornado has proposed a major redevelopment of the property, including a $100 million interior renovation. Unlike the current incarnation as a suburban, car-dependent destination, Vornado officials plan to build a pedestrian-friendly development with an urban flare and as many as 2,800 residences just outside its doors. County officials are trying to fast-track the approval process and hope for construction to begin next year.

Another barrier to revitalization has been the construction of the Springfield interchange. Work on the $676 million interchange connecting interstates 95 and 395 with the Beltway lasted eight years, discouraging businesses from establishing a presence in the area, Supervisor Jeff C. McKay said. Construction was completed last year.

"Springfield has been a construction site for transportation for the better part of 20 years," said McKay, noting that the Franconia-Springfield Metro station opened in 1996. "I see this as Springfield's time to blossom and develop. All the good things are happening at once."

McKay and others also think the GSA warehouse's days are numbered. They say the warehouse, with its 144 employees, is not a good use of a property that is within walking distance of the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and a VRE depot.

GSA officials, however, say it would be a monumental feat to move the contents of the warehouse, which was built in 1953 and is leased out to a half-dozen government tenants, including the White House.

Hundreds of square feet of hard-copy patents are stored there, as are new windows for the Pentagon.

The GSA itself stores a fleet of government vehicles and piles of spare office equipment -- enough that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks they were able to furnish within two weeks 880,000 square feet of office space for the displaced Pentagon workers, down to the staplers and notepads.

"It would be a truly monumental task," said Michael S. McGill, a spokesman for the GSA, who said it would take between $100 million and $130 million to move the warehouse -- not counting the cost of buying land and building new structures.