GSA Faces Challenges In Finding A New Space For International Trade Commission
With its lease at 500 E St SW up in just over a year, the US International Trade Commission could be moving to a new location.
The GSA is open to consolidating the agency from its current 207k SF space to 158k SF or less, the Washington Business Journal reports.
Two major challenges face the GSA as it looks for a new headquarters for the trade commission: one, the solicitation says it needs the space to be ready by March 2018, seven months after its current lease expires. The federal government's real estate arm received criticism last year for its backlog of expired leases, which forced federal taxpayers to pay 20% more than necessary.
Secondly, Congress refused to fund the renovation and build-out of the agency's new space, which would cost $42.7M. This will force the commission to rely on the landlord to fund any improvements or security measures it needs. That would make the next ITC HQ congressionally mandated to keep the trend of record-setting tenant improvement costs in DC going. [WBJ]
