The GSA wrote in its announcement the agency would decide whether the government should sell off the buildings “in an orderly fashion to ensure taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space, or the significant maintenance costs associated with long-term building ownership — potentially saving more than $430 million in annual operating costs.”
The press release didn’t say where the federal employees who work in the hundreds of buildings would go if they are sold.
The buildings that could be put up for sale in Washington, D.C., currently house the departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State and Veterans Affairs.
The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Social Security Administration also have their headquarters slated as potential new additions to the real estate market, according to GSA’s list.
Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming all have buildings cited as non-essential, though some states have dozens more than others.
The GSA appeared to remove the list as of Wednesday morning, though it can still be viewed on the Internet archive here.
Utah buildings on the 'non-core property list'
The General Services Administration's list of buildings identified as "not core to government operations" and marked for "disposal" includes three in Utah:
- The Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in Salt Lake City
- The IRS Service Center in Ogden
- The federal building in St. George
The General Services Administration owns eight federal buildings in Utah totaling more than 1.1 million rentable square feet, according to its website, while leasing approximately 1.8 million more square feet. The majority of that real estate is office space, the administration said, is mostly used by employees of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
