The General Services Administration (GSA) reported that its Public Buildings Service identified over 440 “non-core assets” owned and maintained by the federal government.
In a statement, the GSA said the 440 properties encompass nearly 80 million rentable square feet across the nation with over $8.3 billion in recapitalization needs. The agency added it divest these properties “in an orderly fashion to ensure taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space, or the significant maintenance costs associated with long-term building ownership — potentially saving more than $430 million in annual operating costs.”
Among the divesting solutions being considered are sale-lease backs, ground leases and other forms of public/private partnerships.
“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” said the GSA statement. “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.”
Update: Earlier today, GSA took down a previously posted list of the properties in question and replaced it with a “Coming Soon” message.
Photo: The William R. Cotter Federal Building in Hartford, Connecticut, one of the buildings on the GSA’s list of non-core assets.
Useless building costs taxpayers millions. Probably most are deteriorating from lack of use. This may make them useless even for sale. or renovated for other local use.
The land under the buildings may be worth more than the building improvements.