Construction is set to start March 1 on a new building the FCC will lease in the Portals project at 455 12th St., according to the General Services Administration, which handles government real estate. The GSA earlier this month signed a supplemental lease agreeing that the FCC would rent 450,000 occupiable square feet in the complex for 20 years. The cost would be $17.3 million a year, according to GSA.

Although Congress hasn't actually appropriated funds for the FCC to move, Chairman Reed Hundt said, "We should do what we're told to do and someone will find the money for us."

The FCC, which has about 1,750 headquarters employees spread among six buildings near 19th and M streets NW, first solicited bids for a new building in 1989. In 1991, GSA picked the Portals site, even though the FCC wanted to move into more expensive space on Pennsylvania Avenue.