Department of Homeland Security HQ $1.5B over budget

WASHINGTON — The area’s largest planned construction project since the Pentagon — new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security — may never be completed.

The massive new headquarters is $1.5 billion over budget and 11 years behind schedule, according to The Washington Post.

As a result, some lawmakers now want the project to be scrapped.

The complex, on the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast was supposed to have been finished as early as this year. The completion date has been pushed back to 2026.

The federal agency developing the project for Homeland Security says it has not been given enough money to keep the project on schedule, which has in turn pushed the cost up significantly.

The estimated cost of the complex has risen from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held at the site in 2009, and a Coast Guard building opened there last year. The rest of the grounds remain undeveloped.

DHS agencies are currently scattered in dozens of buildings around the area.

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