CNN
–
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is considering selling hundreds of “non-core” federal assets, according to the General Services Bureau.
“The decisive action of GSA to dispose of non-core assets is leveraging the private sector, promoting improvements to agents’ customers and serving the community optimally,” the agency said in a news release, claiming that “we can save more than $430 million in annual operating costs.”
The list of 440 “non-core” properties originally posted on the GSA website included the FBI headquarters. Department of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Labor, Housing and Urban Development. The Federal Trade Commission, the GSA’s own headquarters and the former post office – had a 60-year lease before the Trump organization sold it to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 2022.
However, later on Tuesday, the list was reverted to properties of 320, and all DC-based properties were removed.
CNN contacted the GSA to comment on removing the property from the list.
The GSA said in its release that most of the flagged buildings consist primarily of office spaces, and selling them will “prevent taxpayers from paying for empty, underutilized federal space.”
The release said the agency has identified specific “core” assets “necessary for critical government operations,” including key courts and facilities for defense and law enforcement agencies “retained for long-term needs.” However, several courts are on the list, including the US courts in downtown Los Angeles.
Many of the properties listed first are in the Washington, DC, Metro area, but the list includes buildings from across the country, from Alaska to Florida.
The move has ordered the Trump administration to return to federal workers to their offices and put an end to Covid-era rules that allow for more flexibility. The GSA on Tuesday did not specify where federal workers would go if the building was disposed of.
Elon Musk’s Government Efficiency Bureau has worked together on plans to cut down and collaborate with GSA and federal government offices, according to sources with knowledge of the plan. The goal is to share office space with federal agencies by connecting those that require workspaces with those that have extra space.
A recently launched program called “Space Match” allows government-wide agency managers to fill out Google forms to fill out details of the space needed for their business. The program aims to offset workspace losses, but sources warned that closing these buildings could be expensive.
“The cost of closing and relocating a building is quite high. You will need to clean the old building and all its furniture, etc. The GSA will need to find a place for evacuated employees to go. This could mean buying new information technology infrastructure or, in some cases, furniture.
The possibility of the building’s closure reflects President Donald Trump’s promises made during the 2024 campaign, where he vowed to move tens of thousands of federal jobs from Washington, D.C. to a place filled with American-loving patriots.
Trump pushed to relocate Washington’s federal agencies during his first term when the Bureau of Land Management headquarters moved from the capital to Grand Junction, Colorado.
As part of a plan to implement massive federal layoffs, the Administration and Personnel Management are asking federal agencies to outline “a positive vision for more productive and efficient agency operations going forward.”
OMB and OPM plan to reduce costs and improve efficiency through technology to agents submitting proposals for office relocation away from the DC Metro area. These are scheduled for April 14th and should be implemented by September 30th, CNN previously reported.
This heading and story has been updated with additional reports.
