SITTING ON OUR ASSETS: THE COTTON ANNEX (112–77) HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 22, 2012 Printed for the use of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure ( Available online at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/ committee.action?chamber=house&committee=transportation U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 73–471 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE JOHN L. MICA, Florida, Chairman DON YOUNG, Alaska NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey Columbia GARY G. MILLER, California JERROLD NADLER, New York TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois CORRINE BROWN, Florida SAM GRAVES, Missouri BOB FILNER, California BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania DUNCAN HUNTER, California RICK LARSEN, Washington ANDY HARRIS, Maryland MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts ERIC A. ‘‘RICK’’ CRAWFORD, Arkansas TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine FRANK C. GUINTA, New Hampshire RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota BILLY LONG, Missouri HEATH SHULER, North Carolina BOB GIBBS, Ohio STEVE COHEN, Tennessee PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania LAURA RICHARDSON, California RICHARD L. HANNA, New York ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JEFFREY M. LANDRY, Louisiana DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland STEVE SOUTHERLAND II, Florida JEFF DENHAM, California JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT JEFF DENHAM, California, Chairman TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of ERIC A. ‘‘RICK’’ CRAWFORD, Arkansas, Columbia Vice Chair HEATH SHULER, North Carolina RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri BOB GIBBS, Ohio TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland RICHARD L. HANNA, New York BOB FILNER, California CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia Tennessee (Ex Officio) JOHN L. MICA, Florida (Ex Officio) (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN CONTENTS Page Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... iv TESTIMONY PANEL ONE Hon. Scott P. Brown, a United States Senator from the State of Massachu- setts ....................................................................................................................... 2 PANEL TWO Robert A. Peck, Commissioner, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Serv- ices Administration .............................................................................................. 7 PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES Hon. Scott P. Brown ................................................................................................ 22 Robert A. Peck ......................................................................................................... 24 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN iv VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN Insert offset folio 1 here 73471.001 v VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN Insert offset folio 2 here 73471.002 vi VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN Insert offset folio 3 here 73471.003 vii VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN Insert offset folio 4 here 73471.004 VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN SITTING ON OUR ASSETS: THE COTTON ANNEX THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m. in the Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC, Hon. Jeff Denham (Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. DENHAM. Ladies and gentlemen, if you can take your seats, the subcommittee will come to order. Before we get started this morning, I understand that the mother of Elliot Doomes, a very fine Democrat staffer here, is here in the audience. Just wanted to welcome her and tell her what a fine job we think her son is doing. So thanks for joining us. Let me first welcome and thank Senator Brown for joining us here today. He has been a leader on this issue in the Senate, and certainly in his region, as well. I also want to thank Chairman Mica—he is on his way, as well as Congresswoman Norton—the ranking member, for their leadership on this issue, as well. Last month we stood in the vacant annex of the Old Post Office, not far from where we are today. It has been 1 year since our first hearing in that annex. And it took quite a bit of time for GSA to finally select a developer to redevelop that site. That site has been vacant for more than a decade, and it took 5 years after Congress directed GSA to redevelop it before a developer was actually cho- sen. Today we are in yet another vacant building, the Cotton Annex. This building has been vacant for 5 years, sitting on prime real es- tate in our Nation’s capital. The Cotton Annex and surrounding va- cant property are worth at least $150 million if sold, according to the Congressional Budget Office, yet here it sits vacant, deterio- rating, and costing the taxpayers to maintain. In the so-called Stimulus Bill, the GSA received $5.5 billion. Why weren’t any of those funds used to prepare this building for reuse, if GSA intends to keep it in its inventory? And if not going to reuse the building, why hasn’t GSA made steps to sell or redevelop it? Whether GSA uses this site to move Federal agencies out of leased space, redevelops the site, or just sells it, GSA can’t keep sitting on prime real estate like this. We know that there have been a number of proposals for the re- development of this site, yet GSA has acted on none of them. This (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:56 Jun 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\HEARINGS\112\ED\3-22-1~1\73471.TXT JEAN 2 is exactly why I have introduced the Civilian Property Realignment Act, to get agencies like GSA to get rid of unneeded and undevel- oped properties. Even without enactment of specific legislation, GSA has—already has broad authority to reuse, redevelop, and sell sites like this, but has chosen not to. And what makes matters even worse is, instead of getting rid of unneeded properties, GSA seems to actively compound the problem of unused and underused space. GSA is slow to vacate properties, but chooses to build an unneeded $340 million courthouse in Los Angeles, which we have had great differences and discussions on. That will actually add empty space in our inventory. We see GSA condemning private property in Norfolk, Virginia, for a courthouse that will never be built. We still see the old Dyer Courthouse in Miami sitting vacant and abandoned, with no plan to reuse or sell it. Despite our budget deficit and despite even the direction of President Obama’s own real property directive in 2010, GSA con- tinues to operate business as usual. It is unacceptable, it is costly, it is costly for the taxpayer. And we hope today to hear that GSA has plans to do redevelopment or reuse with this building and others like it. Again, I want to thank our witnesses here today for joining us, and thank the Honorable Scott Brown for joining us, as well. Thank you. STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE SCOTT P. BROWN, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS Senator BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you also and the ranking member, and Members of the House that are taking this very important issue up. It has been a pleasure working with you and addressing CPRA, and I want to congratulate your passage of it out of the House last month. As the committee knows, the Federal Government owns over 45,000 excess and underutilized properties. And, according to GAO, these properties cost American taxpayers over $1.7 billion per year. And that, as we know, is unacceptable, especially in this tough eco- nomic climate. It is one of the main reason that GAO has put the Federal property management on its High Risk List.