Biden Nominates GFP Chairman Jeffrey Gural As Chair Of Public Buildings Reform Board
President Joe Biden has nominated GFP Real Estate Chairman Jeffrey R. Gural to lead a steering board tasked with selling underutilized properties owned by the federal government.
The Public Buildings Reform Board was established as an independent agency, through the Federal Assets Sale & Transfer Act, by former President Barack Obama during his final months in office in 2016.
Among the board’s main duties is identifying high-value civilian real estate assets owned by the General Services Administration — the government agency operating as the landlord for federal buildings — that could be put up for sale.
The PBRB currently has five members, including former U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, property acquisition and management firm The Hocker Group CEO D. Talmage Hocker, and New York City-based attorney and former GSA Public Buildings Commissioner David Winstead.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, potentially as early as this fall, Gural will serve as the board’s sixth current member.
“It is an honor to be nominated by President Biden to serve as Chair of the Public Buildings Reform Board,” Gural said in an email statement shared with Bisnow. “If confirmed, I look forward to working alongside the existing Board members while applying my 50-plus years of experience in the real estate industry to help reduce governmental costs nationwide.”
Gural, whose storied career in real estate has spanned multiple positions including chairman at Newmark Knight Frank prior to his time at GFP, is also a member of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Executive Committee.
In the six years since it was first established, the PBRB has identified and sold few properties. A December 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office found only 11 sales had been completed.
But the board may have more business on its hands as federal agencies relocate and reduce their office footprints. A representative from GFP declined to provide additional comment on how Gural plans to help the PBRB meet its goals.
