Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Spent to Maintain Crumbling, Vacant Government Buildings

A Look at Federal Buildings Across the Nation Wasting Taxpayer Dollars

by JONATHAN KARL


Right in the heart of Washington, D.C., sits Federal Building Number 8 -- taxpayer owned and empty since 2002. The building doesn't look like much, but the real estate couldn't be more prime. The Capitol building is so close you can see it reflected in its windows.


Jon Karl reports on the millions spent to maintain empty government buildings.
The property alone is worth $100 million but the government is not making a penny off the building -- which stretches an entire city block.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge of this building and many others and says that the government vacancy rate is actually lower than the private sector's. The GSA says it has plans to renovate the building, but it has sat empty for almost a decade.

"We had to wait to get funding for design and construction from Congress, that's the way this thing works," Bob Peck, GSA commissioner of public buildings, said.


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