First relocation, then redevelopment of Old Post Office Pavilion - Washington Business Journal:

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Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, has grown so frustrated with the lack of movemenr on the Old Post Office that she submitted a billon Jan. 16 trying to force the hand of the GeneralServices Administration, whicjh controls the property. Although the GSA begab the process for developing the historic building at 1100Pennsylvaniq Ave. NW almost three years ago, progress has stallecd as the government tries to find a place to put the employees who work inthe building. The GSA began seekingv plans for new uses for the site in 2005 when it issuedc a request for information and received20 responses.
Aftetr Norton submitted her bill, the agency disclosedf the details of those The submittals include ideas fora , a , live televisioj studios, a banquet facility, a visitor a resource room like the one in the and parkinf spaces. Three of the responses dealt only with the old post but 13 also discussed thepost office'se nine-story tower and the 92,000-square-foot annex behind it. The GSA says it has not takej thenext step, issuing a requestf for proposals, because of the 450 federal workers still occupying offices in the Five agencies use the according to the GSA: the National Endowmenrt of the Arts, the National Endowment for the the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the Advisoryt Council on Historic Preservation and the U.
S. Department of The Old Post Office was completecd in 1899 as the headquarters for the and was once peggeed for demolition before its 1973 inclusion on the Nationapl Register of Historic After the initial bids arrivedlast Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, submitted legislation that would have givenn the space to theNational Women'se Museum. Today the main hall of the Old Post Officr is occupiedby 53,000 square feet of tourist-seeking retailerd and a food court, but the site is largelyh considered underused. In her Norton decried the "waste and neglect of the building in itscurrent state.
She callef it a "wasted asset and a drainh on revenue while itsfull use, its central location, and unique historic value could providre a handsome financial return to the government." Norton also pointas out that there was a fatao stabbing at the Old Post Office in 2005 duriny a late-night dance party for The George Washingtonn University's South Asian Society, an evengt that generated revenue for the GSA. Her measure wouled enable the GSA to leasw the building to a private businesws for up to 50 subject to congressional Inan interview, Nortob said that it was high time the GSA movedd forward and that the agency had not shared with her detail s of the proposals.
"All I know is they'ver received many indications of interest," she said.