FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the bureau has finalized plans to permanently close the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, ending years of debate over the agency's deteriorating headquarters.
The FBI has scrapped a nearly $5 billion proposal to construct a new building that would not have opened until 2035. Instead, the bureau will relocate most headquarters staff to the existing Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., Patel said.
"After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility," Patel posted to X. "Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could."
KASH PATEL TO SHUT DOWN FBI HOOVER BUILDING, MOVE HQ ACROSS DC TO RONALD REAGAN BUILDING
Patel said the move will save billions of dollars and noted that key safety and infrastructure upgrades are already underway at the Reagan building.
Once renovations are complete, the majority of FBI headquarters employees will move into the building, according to Patel.
"Once complete, most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in, and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, where they will remain," Patel said. "This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost."
Earlier this year, Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a memo Patel sent to the FBI, notifying employees of the relocation, and stressing that it is the "most cost-effective way" to serve the American people.
Patel, in May, first hinted that the bureau would be reallocating its workforce around the country, and would move agents out of the Hoover building, which opened in 1975.
PATEL BLASTS BIDEN'S 'EMBLEMATIC FAILURE' AFTER AFGHAN NATIONAL CHARGED IN GUARD SHOOTING
The FBI and the General Services Administration (GSA) had been looking at options for a new FBI headquarters for more than a decade, including locations near D.C. in Maryland and Virginia.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
