Federal Government May Need To Slash 5M SF In Leases Under New Budget

The General Services Administration is looking to spend money to save money in the long term, with plans to slash leased office space by 5M SF.

The GSA is requesting $425M in President Joe Biden’s proposed $7.3T fiscal year 2025 budget to reconfigure and renovate federal buildings to accommodate more workers and quicken the sale of unneeded federal real estate, the agency announced in a press release.

While the move comes as the Biden administration ratchets up pressure on Cabinet heads to get federal employees back to the office more often, the GSA is looking to reduce its total leased space for federal tenants from the 173M SF it rented in 2023 to 168M SF by next year, CoStar reported. The GSA’s plan also involves consolidating workers into federally owned buildings rather than leased space, spending a proposed $1.6B on repairs, electrical upgrades and exterior work.

The net result could save taxpayers $1B over the next decade by not having to maintain underused real estate, the GSA said....

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RSK: 5M is a lot of square footage but lets face it....a lot of government workers are working from home compared to the other private employees.