Photo by Mr. T in DC

The Georgetown West Heating Plant, the massive Art Deco-style structure located a block from the Georgetown waterfront that has sat unused for over a decade, sold today for $19.5 million.

The building was sold by the federal government in an auction that started in January and saw five anonymous bidders ratchet up the price from the opening $500,000 to just short of a cool $20 million.

Of course, whatever happens to the building is still a ways off. As the Washington Business Journal reported today, it would either have to be demolished or undergo extensive work to become usable; additionally, any developer would have to gain approval from several city boards before doing anything much with the plant.

Did DCist manage to win the bidding as a means to build a new global headquarters? Maybe! OK, definitely not.