Aiming For 2019 Dedication, GSA Seeking Firm To Construct Eisenhower Memorial
On the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, the Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Commission hopes to dedicate the memorial it has been planning for years in honor of the 34th president.
Aiming to progress toward that goal, the GSA has issued a marketing research announcement to gauge the interest of construction firms in building the memorial, the Washington Business Journal reports. The agency is looking for small minority-owned, women-owned or veteran-owned firms to construct the memorial.
The National Capital Planning Commission in 2015 approved the design of the memorial, created by architect Frank Gehry. It would sit on a four-acre site at the intersection of Maryland and Independence avenues SW.
The memorial is estimated to cost $80M to $90M to construct, and $142M in total. Congress did not approve funds for the memorial in last year's appropriation bill, making the 2019 target difficult to reach unless the commission can get approval to begin construction while it continues to raise money. The commission's advisory board, which includes all living former presidents, dozens of former public officials and America's dad, Tom Hanks, is raising $25M in private funds. [WBJ]
