DOGE Reverses Plan To Terminate 135 Leases, GSA Says More Could Be Spared
The impact of the White House’s push to shrink the federal government’s office footprint shrank significantly overnight.
The Department of Government Efficiency, billionaire Elon Musk’s agency tasked by President Donald Trump with slashing federal bureaucracy, now plans to keep 135 leases totaling 2.2M SF that it had targeted for termination.
The General Services Administration's termination list now consists of 657 leases totaling 8M SF across the United States and Puerto Rico, according to an updated tally from JLL, which tracks supposed savings posted to the DOGE website.
“GSA is reviewing all options to optimize the federal footprint and building utilization,” a GSA spokesperson said in an email. “We are actively managing lease contracts by leveraging existing contract cancellation rights.”
DOGE originally published a list of nearly 800 leases to be terminated on Wednesday before quickly pulling some down. An internal GSA document obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday said the agency, which oversees the federal government’s office footprint, expected nearly two-thirds of the listed offices would be closed.
The termination rights are primarily being exercised for leases nearing their soft term, a point in the contract where the tenant can opt not to extend its occupancy.
“Actively managing leases gives GSA the opportunity to work closely with our partner agencies on their evolving and longer term needs and will often allow us to enhance space utilization and secure better terms for the government — including better pricing,” the spokesperson said.
More termination notices are likely to be rescinded as DOGE, the GSA and partner agencies work together on optimizing the federal government’s office footprint, the spokesperson said.
“GSA’s letters of intent to terminate have no immediate effect and do not mean the lease has been terminated,” the spokesperson said.
The leases that were removed from the termination list would have saved the federal government some $58M, according to DOGE, more than 10% of the $500M in savings the agency previously estimated.
The average remaining term on the 96 leases removed from the list identified by CoStar is three years, with many of the offices having been in place for a decade or more. The leases that appear to be off the chopping block include 50 Social Security offices and 24 IRS offices, according to CoStar.
DOGE and the GSA have been moving quickly to try to cut the government’s real estate footprint, sometimes with surprising consequences. The GSA briefly posted a list this month of more than 400 properties that it planned to sell across the country.
The list included the headquarters of the FBI, Social Security Administration, Census Bureau, Department of Agriculture and Department of Justice. It also included a secret CIA facility previously not acknowledged by the government.
The list was online for less than 24 hours, although DOGE officials said they plan to come back with a new set of properties to offload.
