Sliwoski said the plan is to restore and renovate the building according to the standards of the secretary of the Department of the Interior, as the state did with the $104.5 million renovation of the Capitol that was completed in 2007. The work would be completed by mid-2018, if not sooner, he said.

The key piece in the Capitol Square minuet is the Pocahontas Building, which fronts on the 900 block of East Main Street and backs up to Bank Street on Capitol Square.

Moving the General Assembly into the Pocahontas Building would avoid legislators and visitors having to constantly cross Ninth Street, which carries much more traffic than Bank Street.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring has been briefed on the plan, which would require his office to move from Pocahontas into the Ninth Street Office Building when its renovation is completed in 2016.

“It puts them into a newly renovated building and it’s a one-time move,” Sliwoski said. “They would stay there.”

The other agencies now housed in Pocahontas, including the Virginia Lottery, also would move to new space. Only the computer center for the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System would remain in the building.