The federal government is looking to offload “non-core properties” to downsize its real estate footprint, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) buildings included on the list.
The General Services Administration (GSA) says there are more than 440 non-core assets under the government’s control, primarily consisting of office space and totaling nearly 80 million in rentable square feet and more than $8.3 billion in recapitalization needs, a news release said.
The Hubert Humphrey Building, the 750,000-square-foot home to HHS, is listed on the non-core property list. So are four CMS headquarter buildings in Woodlawn, Maryland and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) White Oak campus in Silver Spring, home to the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). CBER has seen a mass exodus since HHS employees were first fired, reported Fierce Biotech. A regional FDA office in Bothell, Washington is also listed.
“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” the agency said. “We can no longer hope that funding will emerge to resolve these longstanding issues. GSA’s decisive action to dispose of non-core assets leverages the private sector, drives improvements for our agency customers, and best serves local communities.”
GSA said the country will potentially save more than $430 million in annual operating costs. The department is considering the use of sale-lease backs, ground leases and other public-private partnerships to “drive full optimization.”
Additionally, there are hundreds of government lease terminations listed on the DOGE website, spanning agencies such as CMS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FDA, the Veterans Benefits Administration, food and nutrition buildings within the Department of Agriculture, Indian Health Services, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Federal Trade Commission, among numerous other agencies.
The FDA alone has 30 lease terminations listed across 23 states as of March 4. Another dozen terminations affect the Indian Health Service.
Most of the terminated leases are classified as “via mass mod,” meaning multiple contracts were changed at once. The other terminations were due to consolidation.
Agencies are tasked by the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to create reorganization plans with new departmental hierarchy charts, “undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” and sell unneeded federal buildings.
DOGE architect Elon Musk and the Trump administration are forcing federal workers to return to the office, in some cases moving relocating across state lines, even when it’s not clear there is office space available for them. That will be complicated if federal buildings are sold and workers are displaced further.
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