GW spent $23 million on a building to be used for office space, officials announced at a Faculty Senate meeting earlier this month.

Officials purchased property at 2013 H St., which sits across the street from the Shops at 2000 Penn and next to the School of Media and Public Affairs. University spokeswoman Crystal Nosal said the building will hold several offices, but officials have not determined which departments will be housed.

The purchase lies within boundaries set by the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan, which determines what areas in Foggy Bottom the University can develop property over the course of 20 years. Nosal said the Board of Trustees approved the purchase “in the middle of 2019.”

“Given its proximity to other University properties, GW believes the building has strategic value to the University to accommodate future needs,” she said in an email.

The Foggy Bottom Campus lies between 19th and 24th streets and spans from E Street to Washington Circle and Pennsylvania and New Hampshire avenues. Officials revised the campus plan in 2015 to recognize Corcoran School of the Arts and Design students living on campus and GW Hillel’s leasing space.

Community members came to an agreement with the University and the D.C. Zoning Commission in 2017 that Boston Properties would dedicate $700,000 to neighborhood improvements as part of the corporation’s redevelopment of 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. and Rice Hall.

Nosal declined to say which officials were involved in the building’s purchase and how owning the building will reduce the cost of rent the University is required to pay to house offices on campus.

Joseph Cordes, the associate director of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and the chair of the Faculty Senate’s fiscal planning and budget committee, said officials finalized the purchase with the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, the building’s previous owners.

“It was owned by the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation and it’s part of an ongoing plan at GW to continue to acquire any remaining property inside its boundaries,” Cordes said. “It’s going to be used for housing some administrative offices.”

Josephine Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, said GW’s $23 million offer will allow the foundation to focus on providing more resources to the Hospital for Sick Children Health Care System, the foundation’s parent organization. The Hospital for Sick Children Health Care System provides care to children with disabilities and their families, according to the foundation’s website.

Robinson said the foundation purchased the building in 2011 to organize services for children, teens and adults with disabilities and “complex health needs” who are looking to transition to independent living.

Robinson said the foundation will relocate to Northeast D.C. by June 2020. She added that operating the building stymied the organization from allocating financial resources to provide care to families and children in the area because they had to dedicate those resources to building upkeep.

“Owning and managing the day-to-day operations of a building, while valuable, is not central to our mission,” Robinson said. “The HSC Foundation Board and HSC Executive Management Team decided the best way to serve our families was to accept the offer of sale from George Washington University.”