Norton Calls GSA to Account for Failure to Develop the Iconic Old Post Office Here

Norton Calls GSA to Account for Failure to Develop the Iconic Old Post Office Here

February 10, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today will sit as the ranking Democratic member of this session's first Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management hearing, which she chaired when Democrats controlled the House. The hearing at the Annex behind the Old Post Office will focus on development of the Old Post Office, the nearly vacant iconic treasure at 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. In 2008, Norton successfully passed her bill, the Old Post Office Development Act, to require the General Services Administration (GSA) to proceed, although GSA had the administrative authority to develop. Norton, in exasperation, introduced her Old Post Office bill after years of pressing for a redevelopment without success. She said that GSA's development of the Tariff building, at 7th and G Streets NW, now converted into the Monaco Hotel that is returning revenue to both the federal and city governments, was a ready model. Despite pressure from Norton, GSA has failed to properly pursue the redevelopment.

Norton said, "Years of neglect of this historic treasure, which is on the National Historic Register, have led to dangerous situations and billions of dollars in wasted federal funds. Now, nearly three years after I got GSA the specific authority to remedy this situation, we are still wasting tax dollars and watching the depletion of this grand building in the heart of the nation's capital that could be returning revenue to taxpayers."

Norton wants to know why GSA, through Democrat and Republican administrations alike, has repeatedly failed to develop a property that is a drain on the budget, when GSA will issue the Request for Proposals, and what the agency's management of this property tells us about property management by the GSA nationwide.

WHO: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management

WHAT: Field Hearing Entitled, Sitting on Our Assets: Cutting Spending and Private Redevelopment of Underperforming Buildings

WHEN: Thursday, February 10, at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Old Post Office Building, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC