Photo by Mr. T in DC

Rather than use one of the august hearing rooms on Capitol Hill, Republican legislators decided to employ a little political theater today for a hearing on vacant federal buildings. And what better locale than a 1940s vintage heating plant in Georgetown that’s sat unused for the last 11 years?

The House Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee used the federally owned West Heating Plant on 29th Street NW just a block from the waterfront this morning for the fourth in series of hearings on the federal government’s real estate portfolio, notably those buildings across the country that are unused, empty or underutilized.

The plant, built in 1948, served as a perfect backdrop for Republican complaints—it was decommissioned in 2000 and sat largely unused until October 2011, when the General Services Administration announced its intention to sell it. In the intervening decade, though, the federal government spent $3.5 million on maintenance costs, even as developers have expressed interest in converting the distinctive Art Deco-style building into luxury condos.

Sitting at an improvised dais flanked by massive tanks and a dizzying network of pipes, Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) complained that the federal government’s delays in selling off the heating plant and the 14,000 other vacant or underutilized properties was wasting billions of taxpayer dollars annually. (All told, the federal government has over 893,000 buildings and structures across 24 agencies.)

Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.) added that GSA had left the Old Post Office vacant for 15 years, awarding it to Donald Trump only recently for redevelopment into a luxury hotel. “The federal government has to stop sitting on its assets,” said Mica, referencing a 2010 report he authored pushing the federal government to sell off or dispose of as much unused property as possible.

Even Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) was miffed as to why any sale would have taken so long, especially when the heating plant had seen interest from local developers. She also wanted answers as to two other federal properties in D.C. that are unused: a Secret Service building at Ninth and H Streets NW and a warehouse at 49 L Street SE.

A new for sale sign outside Georgetown’s West Heating Plant.

It was left to Flavio Peres, the deputy assistant commissioner for Real Estate Utilization and Disposal at GSA, to explain the delays, and he did the best he could given a hostile panel of questioners. He said that President Obama has ordered that the federal government slim down on its holdings, and that it was committed to doing so.

Still, he argued that of the 14,000 properties across the federal government that could well be disposed of, GSA only controlled 124—the others were split among the Department of Defense, Department of Interior and other agencies controlled the remainder. If a specific agency didn’t consider a particular process as “excess,” he said, it would be difficult for GSA to proceed on selling it. (His testimony indicated that GSA had sold 2,600 assets over the last decade for $4.2 billion.)

As for the heating plant, Peres said GSA was taking the necessary steps to sell it to a developer, and he expected an auction to take place in the fall. A “for sale” sign, he said, had just been posted outside the building. Asked what he thought the building could bring when sold, he declined to answer, saying only that its proceeds would be “substantial.”

After the hearing, Denham and Mica went to the plant’s roof, which has dramatic 360-degree views of Rosslyn, the Potomac River, the Watergate, the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Cathedral and even the Naval Observatory, where Vice President Joe Biden lives. But as much as the views may be breathtaking, any new development may be years away—the plant is so old and remediation efforts may be so extensive that tearing it down may be the best option once it’s sold.