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BumRushDaShow

(150,874 posts)
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 04:41 AM Mar 6

U.S. Government Hits Pause on Massive Commercial Real-Estate Sale

Source: msn/WSJ

11h


The U.S. government on Tuesday was gearing up for one of the largest sales ever of commercial real estate. By Wednesday morning, that sales process was suddenly in limbo. In an extraordinary reversal, the General Services Administration removed from its website about 440 federal buildings representing nearly 80 million square feet of space that only hours earlier it had listed for sale.

That followed stinging criticism from workers in the buildings, elected officials and others opposed to the mass property sale that led the GSA to pause. A spokesman for the GSA, which manages federal real estate, said a list of specific properties for sale will be republished in the near future “after we evaluate this initial input and determine how we can make it easier for stakeholders to understand the nuances of the assets listed.”

The Trump administration has been aiming to sell scores of federal buildings throughout the country as part of President Trump’s effort to shrink the government and slash federal spending. While many of the properties are aging, shabby buildings that wouldn’t fetch much, some better-known properties were also up for sale. The list that the GSA made public on Tuesday included the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Labor Department.

But later Tuesday, the GSA reduced the list to 330 properties and removed many of the higher-profile buildings. On Wednesday morning, the GSA website no longer listed any properties. It said that the list of “non-core properties for disposal” was “coming soon”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/real-estate/u-s-government-hits-pause-on-massive-commercial-real-estate-sale/ar-AA1AkmbN

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KT2000

(21,352 posts)
1. Our local Federal office building
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 05:23 AM
Mar 6

has a For Sale sign on it. It had the Social Security office. They are gone all of a sudden and the building is locked.

BumRushDaShow

(150,874 posts)
3. One of my cousins had texted me last night about this story
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 06:39 AM
Mar 6

as they were targeting buildings where she lives. Yesterday the Philly Inquirer had an article about the buildings here that were on the list - Trump administration proposes sale of federal buildings all over Pa. — with three in Philly -



The current VA building here is relatively "new". The original building that my dad had worked out was actually an old factory/warehouse that had been built in the '20s, that the government bought and refurbished for office space (eventually putting computer systems in to process Veteran's benefits/checks, where my dad was a COBOL programmer for that), and they apparently moved into that building in 1949 -



Eventually the old building was torn down and a new building was put in place on the lot 30 years ago (1995) -



I remember driving by the location over the years and was shocked when I saw they were tearing down the old building and constructing the new one (the old building space became the parking lot for the new one, that was built on the far end of the property).

There had been a list of buildings on GSA's site (some had even taken screenshots of it) and then that was taken down.

 

AmericaUnderSiege

(777 posts)
2. Everybody and everything will always be for sale under these slavers.
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 05:39 AM
Mar 6

MAGA have come for your family and your country. No one is safe.

Vinca

(51,903 posts)
5. If they don't want the buildings, they should give them to nonprofits to turn into low-income housing.
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 08:12 AM
Mar 6

Of course I'm kidding. Trump never gives anything away.

BumRushDaShow

(150,874 posts)
7. These buildings are ALL occupied by federal workers
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 09:37 AM
Mar 6

many of whom were told to come back into the office (at least those who had telework agreements - although many DON'T have such nor were in positions that even allowed it).

William Seger

(11,538 posts)
8. Reducing government in the STUPIDEST POSSIBLE way
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 10:18 AM
Mar 6

Recovering from this debacle will be very difficult and very expensive.

BumRushDaShow

(150,874 posts)
9. "Recovering from this debacle will be very difficult and very expensive."
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 10:26 AM
Mar 6

That's what they know and why they did it this way. It's a "win-win" for them.

I think of it like what happened over 40 years ago with PATCO and Raygun's firings. The federal ATC universe STILL hasn't recovered fully from that.

IbogaProject

(4,259 posts)
11. The custom house is where tariffs would be processed
Thu Mar 6, 2025, 12:15 PM
Mar 6

Trmp2.0 is even dumber than before. And the other two are obviously important. The GOP is looking to shrink the Federal work force in blue areas, but this will likely hurt them both in those areas and anywhere they move what staff remains to.

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