Norton Seeks Testimony on Business Opportunities from DHS Headquarters (12/11/07)

Norton Seeks Federal and Community Testimony on Business Opportunities Expected from First Federal Headquarters in Anacostia
December 11, 2007

Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, will hold a hearing entitled "The New DHS Headquarters at St. Elizabeths: Local Business Opportunities" on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 10 AM in Room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing continues Norton's efforts to assure that locating the first federal agency in two centuries east of the Anacostia River helps spark retail and other business development in Ward 8 and benefits the District of Columbia. General Services Administration (GSA) Commissioner David Winstead, the head of GSA's Public Building Service, who will lead development of the 176 acre site, will testify about planned federal efforts to encourage retail and commercial development around the headquarters, and Rear Admiral Earl Gay, Commandant of Naval District Washington and the Navy Yard, will testify concerning similar efforts that helped develop neighborhood retail amenities when federal Naval Sea Systems Command moved there. Witnesses representing the Anacostia business community will be: Albert Hopkins Jr., President/CEO of the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation; Robert James, President of the Ward 8 Business Council; Phillip Pannell, Executive Director of the Anacostia Coordinating Council; and Stan Voudrie, Principal at Four Points, LLC. Barbara Lang, President/CEO, D.C. Chamber of Commerce also will testify.

"We must maximize this unique and path-breaking opportunity to end the isolation of Wards 7 and 8 and help them become destination parts of the District, like the rest of the city," Norton said. "The abandoned federal eyesore that has been a major factor in the deterioration of Ward 8 can be converted into a magnet to assist in attracting the quality retail and commercial development that the Ward has long desired. The project has been well received in Ward 8, which is sick of blight from decades of abandoned federal property. With groundbreaking expected in 2008, now is the time to assure that federal plans and local interests are aligned." In September, Norton and GSA sponsored the first business opportunity forum for small businesses interested in the project.

The federal government is crossing the Anacostia at a time when Wards 7 and 8 are seeking to become destinations with new development opportunities. The city is looking at the option of building a soccer stadium for D.C. United on Poplar Point, a site authorized for transfer to the District last year following the passage of the Norton's land transfer bill. Last Friday, using New Market Tax Credits that Norton championed during the Clinton administration, Giant Supermarket opened the largest supermarket in the region in the Camp Simms section of Ward 8. The homeland security headquarters is expected to house up to 14,000 federal employees and to attract significant economic development and amenities to the area, particularly along Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Ward 8, as has been the case with federal construction in other wards.

Because of the unprecedented nature of this project, Norton began seeking community participation early. In 2006, she held a community town meeting and invited top officials of the GSA, the Coast Guard and the District to answer questions from a standing-room only crowd of affected residents.

GSA recently completed a pending draft master plan and draft environmental impact study of the property and presented findings to the community. The components identified for the DHS headquarters consolidation are the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard.