The county board presiding over Rosslyn, Virginia has voted to allow demolition of a parking garage where the FBI official then known as Deep Throat spilled the Watergate secrets to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. Goodbye, landmark of American journalism; hello, shopping center!

Monday Properties plans to begin construction at the site that saw the beginning of the end of Nixon's presidency by 2017. A plaque commemorating Woodward and Deep Throat — revealed as former FBI associate director Mark Felt in 2005 — will remain in place.

The garage will be replaced with — what else? — a "fabulous new plaza" full of apartments, offices, and shopping. From the Wall Street Journal:

"We knew well the significance of what took place there," board member J. Walter Tejada said in an interview Sunday. "The developer has been very responsive and worked well with the community."

The board's vice chairwoman, Mary Hynes, said: "The Rosslyn of the '70s allowed street-level garage walls and was, in fact, not a very nice place for people. So we will mark the historic nature of the site while creating a fabulous new plaza where people will gather."

It's easy to get misty-eyed about the destruction of such hallowed ground, but the Arlington County Board's decision is understandable. At the end of the day, a famous parking garage is still just a parking garage — and maybe Woodward isn't such a lion after all.

[Image via AP]