Norton Gets GSA to Consider Plans Allowing D.C. to Build on Walter Reed Site-June 19, 2006

Norton Gets GSA Agreement to Consider Plans
Allowing D.C. to Build on Georgia Avenue When Walter Reed Moves
June 19, 2006

Washington, DC---Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today, that at her request, the General Services Administration (GSA) has agreed to consider plans to develop the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus that would allow commercial development on Georgia Avenue, NW. GSA would work with D.C. officials in deciding the type of development, likely to be various types of retail that the uptown Georgia Avenue community has long desired. Norton, who is ranking member of the GSA subcommittee, tried to get the federal Walter Reed site for exclusive development by the city, but the federal government is so short of necessary space that the Walter Reed site was quickly claimed by the State Department and by GSA for other federal agencies. Norton then announced that she would try for the front piece along Georgia Avenue, the part of federal sites most attractive for local economic development. “We can’t demand that the federal government give up its own land,” she said, “but based on definitive precedents, we can make a solid case for development around that land.” Norton argued that commercial development would be as beneficial for the federal government as for the surrounding community. Federal and other workers resist leaving downtown locations in part because eating establishments and other retail are often unavailable.

The Congresswoman again cautioned, however, that Walter Reed will not close for many years. It cannot close until a new hospital is built in Bethesda. Because of the huge federal deficit, Congress is not even funding vital programs that have strong public support, and construction generally does not have a high priority. Because Walter Reed was built only 30 years ago and is in good working order, she doubts that work on a new hospital will begin in the near future. “Nevertheless, whenever the site becomes available, the retail Georgia Avenue should now be part of it,” Norton said.