Norton Land Transfer Bill Consummated with Deed to D.C. for Hill East Development (9/9/2010)

Norton's Land Transfer Bill Consummated with Deed to D.C. for Hill East Development

September 11, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Homes Norton (D-DC) is pleased to learn that the General Services Administration (GSA) will sign the deed to transfer federal ownership of 67 acres of land in Hill East, which Norton secured for the District in her land transfer bill, the Federal and D.C. Government Real Property Act, that passed Congress in 2006. The land, formerly known as Reservation 13 and located near RFK Stadium, will be transferred to District government on Friday, September 10. Norton worked with the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) and the District to secure the final requirements for the transfer. As part of the land transfer legislation, the District was required to provide the AOC 12 acres of land for use as a mail-sorting facility.

Norton said, "With possession of the land, the mixed-use development that Hill East has been waiting for, several thousand permanent and construction jobs, will come to the banks of the Anacostia River to spur economic development in the midst of tough economic times." District plans call for development of a $1.5 billion mixed-use waterfront community with up to 3,000 units of affordable and market rate housing, and up to 2.1 million square feet of retail and office space.

Norton's Federal and D.C. Government Real Property Act was signed into law in 2006 after the Congresswomancarried the bill through four different House committees and the Senate, as well as intense negotiations in both chambers. The bill alsotransferred Poplar Point in Ward 8.

Norton argued that the land would be instrumental in the revenue it would generate, remedying the structural deficit incurred by the District because of numerous federal requirements, such as the limits that keep the city from obtaining revenue by constructing tall buildings, like those that exist in other large cities.