text: The decision to cancel the building was reversed on December 2, 1993, by the Clinton administration. Although the building was originally designed to be a major tourist destination and provide a boost to economic development in the downtown area, the building was repurposed to be a simple office building. Rather than a mix of federal and private renters, federal agencies were now scheduled to occupy 80 percent of the office space. By January 1995, the structure was two years behind schedule. By September 1995, a tentative occupancy date of December 1996 had been set. The building was named for former President Ronald Reagan in October 1995. There were still occasional design glitches.  For example, the GSA approved two major sculptures for the Woodrow Wilson Plaza in 1994, abruptly ordered a halt to work on the sculptures in June 1996, and then ordered work to proceed again in July 1996. Construction slipped further, and by January 1997 occupancy was scheduled for the following summer. Construction continued to fall behind schedule, with completion not expected until summer 1998. Nonetheless, federal officials planned to move more than 480 Environmental Protection Agency employees into the building in July 1997. By this time, security concerns had led to several additional design changes (including a reduction in the number of parking spaces to just 1,900), and the cost of the structure had risen to $738 million.
  The Ronald Reagan Building opened on May 5, 1998. President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Nancy Reagan dedicated the building. Three large pieces of artwork were included in the building. The first, by sculptor and D.C. native Stephen Robin, is a gigantic rose with stem and a lily, both made out of cast aluminum and lying on stone pedestals. The second, by African American D.C. native Martin Puryear, is a Minimalist tower of brown welded metal titled "Bearing Witness" which stands in Woodrow Wilson Plaza. The third, located inside the building's atrium, is a multi-story neon installation by Keith Sonnier titled "Route Zenith." The structure's final cost was $818 million.
  Critical assessment
  "Federal Triangle was the most important government construction project of the 1930s in Washington." It was the largest construction project in the United States in the 1930s; only the construction of Rockefeller Center in New York City came close. It "remains one of the most important design and construction projects" in American history.