Eight federal properties across the United States will soon go on the market as part of the government's latest effort to save money by shrinking its real estate portfolio.
The move is a continuation of the government’s quest to rid itself of underused properties, a task that has recently accelerated and comes as federal employees face pressure to return to a full in-person workweek.
The GSA, which manages the government’s real estate holdings, said it will begin the disposition process of 1.5 million square feet of building space across seven states and Washington, D.C.
Expunging the properties from Uncle Sam’s hands could save the government more than $475 million over the next decade, the GSA said.
“Moving underutilized and underperforming assets out of the building portfolio allows us to tailor a smaller federal footprint with modern and optimized buildings, which will lead to better buildings,” the agency's public buildings commissioner, Elliot Doomes, said in the statement.
The most recent locations to be transferred, exchanged or sold to a federal, state or local entity, or to the public, are:
- Montpelier Federal Building in Montpelier, Vermont.
- Brickell Plaza Building in Miami, Florida.
- Charles A. Halleck Federal Building in Lafayette, Indiana.
- Bismarck Federal Building in Bismarck, North Dakota.
- James V. Hansen Federal Building in Ogden, Utah.
- Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.
- Richard B. Anderson Federal Building in Port Angeles, Washington.
- A regional office building at 301 Seventh St. SW in Washington, D.C.
Some GSA properties have been put up for auction, such as the Webster School in the District, which CoStar reported hit the market for possible redevelopment earlier this fall. Bidding on that downtown location at 940 H St. NW stands at more than $3.5 million as of Dec. 5.
In November 2023, CoStar News reported the GSA picked nearly two dozen other properties it would put on the market. And earlier this year CoStar reported the agency chose another building it would vacate in the nation’s capital.
Combined with those actions, this latest effort to scale down inventory brings the total the government is working to dispose of to more than 6 million square feet, an amount the GSA said could provide a cost avoidance of more than $1.8 billion over 10 years.
Offloading offices, returning in person
The GSA said it will work with agencies whose spaces are affected by the disposition decisions so they can plan and budget for relocation.
Meanwhile, as federal buildings are selected for offloading, rank-and-file government workers could soon be trickling back into the office with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
A new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Trump allies, is seeking an in-person mandate for federal employees, CoStar News reported.
On Dec. 5, the Senate was scheduled to hold its first DOGE caucus meeting, where leaders were expected to discuss eliminating “government waste.” Politico obtained a report from Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who will help lead the caucus, that encouraged selling off unnecessary or unused federal office space.
The GSA currently plans to continue on that course with its goal to rightsize its portfolio. As a part of its fiscal 2025 budget request submitted this year, the agency asked for $425 million for a new real estate “optimization program” to allow it “to reconfigure and renovate federal buildings to better utilize space and to expedite the disposition of unneeded federal facilities.”
In August, the Office of Management and Budget published a report on telework and agencies' efforts to take advantage of existing properties.
“It is important to note that the average age of Federal facilities is more than 50 years and older buildings are not efficient or optimally configured for modern work and often require significant modification,” the report noted.
Over the past decade, the GSA helped dispose of almost 11 million square feet of federally owned space and reduced almost 18 million square feet of leased space, the latest statement said. Additionally, it noted that since 2015 the agency has divested more than 1,000 properties on behalf of the executive branch, reducing over 24 million square feet of federally owned space, returning more than $2 billion to American taxpayers.