Norton Gets GSA to Move Forward on Old Post Office Redevelopment
Norton Gets GSA to Move Forward on Old Post Office Redevelopment
March 24, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Homes Norton (D-DC), the ranking Democratic member of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, today got the General Services Administration (GSA) to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to develop the Old Post Office, a priceless historic treasure, and its Annex, which have sat vacant since 1998.
Norton said, "Years of neglect and underutilization of this iconic treasure, has not only been a huge missed opportunity for revenue to the federal government because of unconscionable delay. The federal government has been carrying an annual loss of $6.5 million on the Old Post Office when this building could by now be operating at a profit for the government. The reinvestment of this grand building, in the heart of the nation's capital, now will simultaneously benefit the District of Columbia and the federal government."
In 2008, Norton successfully passed her bill, the Old Post Office Development Act, to require GSA to proceed, when GSA did not use its administrative authority to develop the building. She 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, the Office of Management and Budget "kept the GSA from moving forward because of the absence of expertise on real estate development in that office," Norton said. The Congresswoman has been very critical of OMB for "a chronic miscomprehension of real estate matters that continue to cost taxpayers billions of dollars."