The base of the Weiss Federal Building contains a colonnade facing north toward Duane Street, as well as several works of art that relate to the adjacent African Burial Ground National Monument.

After human remains were found at the site during an excavation in October 1991, the building's construction was temporarily halted, and a proposed four-story pavilion was eliminated from the plans.

The Ted Weiss Federal Building is at 290 Broadway in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City.

[13] Prior to the settlement of New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the 17th century, the site was largely a ravine that drained into Collect Pond in the northeast.

The land was raised by up to 25 feet (7.6 m), and subsequent buildings' foundations were relatively shallow, thus preserving this section of the cemetery.

[24][26] Daniel Dolan of HOK, the primary architect, objected to the modification, saying that the simplified colonnade would resemble a "shopping mall skylight".

[26] The high-rise structure is enclosed with Deer Isle granite and a pre-fabricated, panelized, cladding system with punched aluminum windows.

[24] Above the roof is an open barrel-vaulted cage, placed atop a granite-sheathed, box-shaped penthouse housing the mechanical systems for the building.

[7] The mechanical room contains three chillers that each are capable of 1,300 tons of air conditioning (equivalent to 15,600,000 British thermal units per hour [4,600,000 W]).

[32] The top of the mosaic contains depictions of the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, and the Empire State Building.

[37] It contains overlapping images relating to 18th- and early 19th-century American history, designed in a style that is intended to evoke the process of archeological excavation.

This artwork, named after the historical ring shout dance, consists of a 40-foot-wide (12 m) terrazzo-and-polished brass circle with various patterns, symbols, texts, and languages.

By September 1987, the New York City government was planning to build a high-rise structure on the site, which was being used as a parking lot.

[38] The GSA was authorized to construct two structures near Foley Square, Manhattan, as part of an omnibus spending bill signed by U.S. president Ronald Reagan in December 1987.

The structures would have a combined 1.6 million square feet (150,000 m2), providing space for overcrowded federal agencies in Lower Manhattan.

[43][44] In June 1988, the GSA issued a request for proposals (RFP), sending brochures with the project's specifications to over 100 developers worldwide.

The alternative, wherein the city government would sell the sites for a nominal fee, would require review by various agencies and would take up to a year.

[47][23] The Linpro Company was awarded the contract to develop the office building at 290 Broadway,[52][53] which would be designed by HOK and constructed by Tishman[26] at a cost $276 million.

[53] The original plan had included a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) public pavilion near Elk Street, which would house day care facilities, an auditorium, and 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) of parking below the building.

[26] Under the terms of its agreement with the GSA, Linpro had to subcontract at least $36 million of the work, or 13 percent of the project's total cost, to minority-owned firms.

[18][58] The GSA had conducted an environmental impact statement (EIS) before purchasing the site, concluding that human remains would not be found because of the long history of urban development in that area.

[59] New York City mayor David Dinkins sought to delay the excavation, and other African American political leaders called for the project to be halted altogether.

[58] U.S. representative Gus Savage, chairman of the committee that reviewed GSA projects, also pressured the agency to halt the work.

[20][60] Federal officials announced in July 1992 that they had permanently halted all work on the eastern end of the site, which would have contained the pavilion.

[12] By then, the site directly under the tower had been cleared, but officials had determined that the extent of the burial ground was too large to be fully excavated.

[73] By 1997, the GSA was sponsoring two architectural design competitions for an African Burial Ground memorial at Duane and Elk streets.

[78] The building was renamed in April 2003 for Ted Weiss (1927–1992), who had been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.

[82][83] The GSA chose the winning design for the African Burial Ground memorial, by Rodney Leon and Nicole Hollant-Denis,[84] in April 2005.

Like a makeshift forecourt, the plaza opens the view to the new building's northern facade, creating an impression of a gateway" to Lower Manhattan.

[91] Muschamp believed that the design undermined the reputation of two older courthouses on Foley Square, saying: "Instead of affirming that authority, the new buildings expose how hollow it has become.