March 5 (UPI) — The United States announced Tuesday that it is selling off more than $8 billion in office space.
The agency’s Public Buildings Service has determined it currently owns and maintains more than 440 assets made up of nearly 80 million square feet of rentable property across the country that have been deemed not crucial to government operations.
According to a press release, decades of funding failings have led these assets to become functionally outdated and inappropriate for use by the federal workforce. It further feels that funding to improve the properties will not be forthcoming and has decided that the divestiture of this office space could save over $430 million in annual operating costs. The GSA said this will also keep taxpayers from paying for underused and empty buildings, as well as any related upkeep.
The PBS will begin research regarding how it will dispose of the properties and is open to suggestions such as varied types of leasing, usage and partnerships that would best optimize the potential of these spaces and will soon begin releasing information regarding how interested parties can submit plans of action.
Despite the announcement that 440 buildings were on the chopping block, as of Wednesday the GSA website’s current list of non-core properties only features 320 buildings and facilities, none of which are in Washington.
The list had originally offered federal structures such as the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which serves as FBI headquarters, the Hubert H. Humphrey Building which houses the Department of Health and Human Services and the Robert F. Kennedy Building, current home of the Department of Justice.
