Federal Government's Real Estate Head To Depart
The top official overseeing the federal government’s more than 350M SF real estate footprint is leaving after two years on the job.
The General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service Commissioner Nina Albert will depart at the end of the week, the agency announced Tuesday. She will be replaced by GSA National Capital Region Administrator Elliot Doomes.
“It has been an honor to serve GSA and the Biden-Harris Administration over the past two years,” Albert said in a release.
“The opportunity to define hybrid work and demonstrate how GSA can improve the workplace experience for millions of federal workers, as well as right-size the federal footprint, has been my goal. I know that the PBS team will continue to steward these efforts in support of federal agencies’ missions and to the benefit of communities across the United States,” she said.
Doomes, who has headed GSA operations in the D.C. region since January, will succeed Albert after she departs on Friday. He came to the GSA with nearly 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill, most recently serving as a staff member on the House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.
“I have full confidence that Elliot will seamlessly step into this new role leading our dynamic PBS workforce,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in the release. “His impressive record overseeing federal real estate portfolio, and leadership to incentivize economic growth will continue to be a driving force behind GSA’s mission to deliver services for the American people.”
The Biden administration tapped Albert to lead PBS in July 2021. She had previously served as vice president of real estate and parking for WMATA.
Albert’s tenure was defined by the effects of the pandemic and the GSA’s efforts to reduce its office footprint. In July, she testified in front of a House committee after the Office of Management and Budget reported that out of the 24 federal agency headquarters it surveyed, the majority used 25% or less of their footprints.
The agency has been operating under a plan to reduce its office footprint for a decade, but that push was sped up by pandemic-induced remote work trends.
This year, the GSA has revealed plans to cut the National Labor Relations Board’s footprint by 40%, reduce the Department of Justice’s NoMa office space by about 150K SF and significantly shrink the footprints of both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and National Transportation Safety Board.
The agency has also been working to advance two major federal agency headquarters moves, but they have both been delayed.
A decision on where the government plans to move the FBI has been highly anticipated this year, as the GSA updated the selection criteria in July and said a decision would be announced in the “coming months.”
The search to replace the FBI’s longtime home on Pennsylvania Avenue has been in the works since the Obama administration. It has been narrowed down to three finalist sites: two in Prince George's County, Maryland, and one in Springfield, Virginia.
Plans for a new 1.2M SF Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters have also stalled. In September 2021, the GSA selected Douglas Development to build a facility in NoMa to replace its existing 1M SF of leases near Union Station. Those plans have been in jeopardy for months, Bisnow reported in June, and last week, the SEC extended its current lease at Station Place for another five years.
About half of the GSA’s leases are set to expire in the next five years, a figure that indicates the agency will have to make many more real estate decisions in the near future.
UPDATE, OCT. 10, 5:40 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with additional context on the GSA's real estate activity.
