Here is a map of government properties for sale that GSA extracted from its website
On Tuesday, the General Services Administration (GSA) released a list of more than 400 federal buildings and properties to be sold, including the FBI headquarters, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, and other major federal facilities. A few hours later, high-profile sites including the J. Edgar Hoover building and the Veterans Management Building in Washington, D.C., including 123 buildings. By Wednesday, the entire list had disappeared from the GSA website.
Wired created a map and a searchable list of government properties, which also includes the corresponding political representatives of each location.
Wired cross-references two datasets to create a map: the initially published “non-core” attribute list, then deleted via GSA, and the list of owning and renting attributes (IOLP). GSA defines non-core properties as buildings and facilities that are “not the core of government operations” and notes in a press release on the list that sales will be “U.S. taxpayer savings.” IOLP is a publicly accessible database that provides detailed information on GSA-owned and leased properties across the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Samoa, USA.
Among those who initially stated for sale were historically important properties such as the John C. Krucinsky Federal Building and Customs Building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Chicago, a decorative art building that occupied the city blocks of the Old Town of Philadelphia. Less prominent but still noteworthy buildings include the Martinsburg Computing Center Center in Kerniesville, West Virginia, which houses the “main database of personal and corporate tax administration” described by the IRS and the Central Heating Plant in Washington, D.C., which provides heated and icy water for government buildings, museums and national monuments. (The GSA has since claimed not all buildings are for sale, but the agency has repeatedly changed its tune in different internal documents and communications with employees.)
The independent government agency GSA manages a large portion of the government and federal real estate portfolio. The agency has been undermined in recent weeks by forced resignation and reduced troops, including eliminating the 18F, a GSA unit focused on government efficiency. GSA’s Public Building Services (PBS) is reportedly planning to cut 63% of its workforce, totaling about 3,600 people. Elon Musk’s staff are staffed throughout the GSA, including Thomas Shedd, director of technology transformation services, and former Tesla engineer and X staff member Nicole Hollander. Many young technicians can also use the institution.
Wired reported in February that GSA employees were told to sell more than 500 federal buildings, including properties from House government agencies and the U.S. Senator’s Office. The list of these buildings divides the properties into “core” and “non-core” assets and specifies the sale of “non-core” assets.
Notes on the original list state that the agency’s intention is ultimately to reduce the size of its own real estate footprint by 50%, while the number of buildings is reduced by 70%. The reduction will be concentrated on the portfolio’s non-core total office space, which can be replaced in the private rental market as needed. Moving forward, all non-core buildings will be disposed of and their tenants will transition to lease.”
