Building Proposals Could Cost $300 Million : Pentagon Too Small, Military Seeks More Office Space

The Pentagon wants to build a new Pentagon.

The expanding Defense Department discovered years ago that the world’s largest office building--the Pentagon--was not large enough. Now, government officials have formally begun seeking architects’ and engineers’ ideas for a building, or buildings, that would offer nearly as much office space as that of the Pentagon itself.

They said they are looking at a large parking lot adjacent to the Defense Department’s 40-year-old headquarters and hope construction could begin by 1989.

“It’s a good time for them to move on this, in the Reagan Administration with the emphasis on the military,” said an official of the General Services Administration, the federal government’s property manager.

May Meet Opposition

But the optimistic planning ignores the possibility that requests for millions of dollars in construction money--if approved by Pentagon officials and the Office of Management and Budget--could meet congressional opposition at a time when the Pentagon’s weapons budget is under intense scrutiny.

The proposal is being advanced by government real estate managers, but senior Pentagon officials said they were unaware of the plans.

The project would allow the Defense Department to move to one location thousands of employees scattered in more than 80 offices it leases in the Washington area at an annual cost of $41 million. The proposal might carry a $300-million price tag, according to a rough estimate offered by Jack Finberg, the GSA’s deputy assistant regional administrator for real estate.

Plan at Preliminary Stage

The proposal is at such a preliminary stage that no drawings have been developed--and government officials could take several years to decide what geometric shape would look best next to the five-sided headquarters, if permission is granted for the construction.

The Pentagon “is a monumental building,” said Finberg. “It is a world symbol. The site has to be treated accordingly.”

How about simply building an addition to the Pentagon?

“You don’t modify the Pentagon shape,” Finberg said.

And how about a skyscraper?

To provide the sought-after floor space--an extra 2.5 million to 3 million square feet-- would require a structure three times that of the 62-story First Interstate Bank building in downtown Los Angeles--or 186 stories, if built on the same-sized base.

“The whole idea isn’t to build an edifice to the Defense Department. It’s to reduce the cost of defense, to reduce the cost to the government,” Finberg said. “I don’t think we’ve heard one negative thing from the people at the Department of Defense, except, ‘When can we get it?’ ”

Staff Too Large for Pentagon

The Pentagon staff long ago outgrew the boundaries of the Pentagon itself, which was completed in time for the end of World War II 40 years ago. The building’s offices cover 3.6 million square feet, according to Finberg. But the Defense Department leases an additional 5.5 million square feet of office space in the Washington area, an official said--so that even a new building would offer insufficient space.

“Any economic analysis will show you it’s much smarter to build,” the Pentagon official said. “It would make good sense for us to build another Pentagon.”

The official, speaking on the condition that he not be identified by name, said a new building combining hundreds of offices now scattered across Washington, northern Virginia and suburban Maryland could quickly pay for itself in increased productivity.

He estimated that of the 80 persons on his staff--some in offices 45 minutes from the Pentagon--four are riding the Washington subway on their way to or from a meeting at any given moment during the work day.