DGS outlines governor's capital projects package, recommends new state building at VDOT Annex

Banchi Tuwaldi, director of the Department of General Services, told the House Appropriations Committee that DGS recommends a new state office building at the VDOT Annex rather than rebuilding at 7th and Main and summarized related items in the governor—s introduced budget.

Tuwaldi said the recommendation follows a General Assembly-authorized study in Chapter 2 that examined options for 7th and Main (the former Virginia Employment Commission building) and the VDOT Annex, including new construction versus renovation, building sizes of about 250,000 to 350,000 square feet, parking needs and conference capacity. “The potential solution was to build a new site. Our new state building would be better suited at the VDOT Annex versus the 7th and Main FIS site,” she said.

The nut graf: The recommendation affects Monroe operations, parking and conference space for many state agencies and carries multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar cost implications in the governor's introduced budget, which includes transfers, renovation money and direction on how Monroe might be disposed of.

DGS told the committee it examined three program-size scenarios (about 250,000, 316,000 and 350,000 square feet), considered new construction and renovation, and evaluated site constraints such as slope, access and parking. Tuwaldi said renovating the VDOT…