FBI To Leave Hoover Building

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the J. Edgar Hoover Building will be permanently closed, ending decades of debate over the crumbling headquarters and scrapping a long-delayed replacement project once projected to cost nearly $5 billion and stretch to 2035.

Under the plan, most FBI headquarters personnel will relocate to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, a move Patel said delivers immediate improvements without the staggering price tag of new construction.

“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 wrote in a post on Twitter. “Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could.”

December 26: Shutting down the Hoover Building.

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. Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we…

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) December 26, 2025

Patel said renovations and security upgrades at the Reagan facility are already underway and will produce significant taxpayer savings. Once the work is completed, the bulk of headquarters staff will move into the complex, while remaining personnel will support a broader effort to shift manpower into field operations nationwide.

“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.”

The Hoover Building, which opened in 1975, has long drawn criticism for its deteriorating condition and mounting maintenance challenges. In earlier internal communications, Patel characterized relocation as the “most cost-effective way” to address the facility’s shortcomings while improving the bureau’s ability to serve the public.

For more than a decade, the FBI and the General Services Administration evaluated alternatives, including proposals for entirely new headquarters sites in suburban Maryland and Virginia. The final decision rejects those plans in favor of reusing existing federal infrastructure, closing the book on one of Washington’s most protracted and expensive real estate debates.

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