It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on January 27, 1975, under the former name as site 75000620.

In 1978 it was also included as a contributing property in the NRHP listing of the Hawaii Capital Historic District.

[1][3] In December 2003, the federal government sold most of the building to the state of Hawaii for US$32.5 million, upon which the building was renamed in honor of King David Kalākaua — last king of the Hawaiian monarchy.

By that point in time, all federal agencies and departments had already moved their Hawaii-based offices years earlier to the Prince Kuhio Federal Building near Honolulu Harbor, except for a small section of the building that is still used as a post office.

[4] Today, the building is home to the offices of the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.