President Donald Trump is swinging the axe at government waste, eyeing a blockbuster sell-off of 443 federal properties spanning 47 states, DC and Puerto Rico.
The move, aimed at gutting the bloated federal workforce and the pricey buildings they occupy, could dump nearly 80 million square feet of commercial space — 12 times the Pentagon’s footprint — onto the market.
The General Services Administration (GSA) dropped the staggering list of “non-core” assets on Tuesday, spotlighting a haul that could save taxpayers a cool $430 million a year in upkeep costs, a centerpiece of Trump’s crusade to shrink the feds’ tab.
The lineup includes heavy-hitters: prime commercial hubs hosting local and regional offices for agencies serving everyone from taxpayers to Social Security beneficiaries, farmers and workers. Big-name departments like Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Justice and Veterans Affairs might see their digs sold off.
Even the GSA’s own headquarters is on the chopping block.
About a third of these properties are clustered in the DC metro area, packing a hefty chunk of the square footage thanks to major agency HQs. But the list stretches far and wide, from the sprawling 4,500-room Agriculture Department building in DC — once the world’s largest office complex before the Pentagon stole the crown — to a puny 74-square-foot toll booth at the Good Neighbor International Bridge in El Paso, Texas.
History buffs might wince at some of the offerings: 19th-century customs houses in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; and Norfolk, Virginia, where the feds once raked in import duties before income taxes existed. Newer spots like the John A. Volpe Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a FEMA regional office in Thomasville, Georgia, also made the cut.
Iconic names dot the roster too — think the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston, the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco, the Rosa Parks Federal Building in Detroit, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building in Atlanta.
But don’t expect a “For Sale” sign just yet.
“Just because something is on the non-core list doesn’t mean it’s for sale by any means,” Michael Peters, a former investment banker tapped by Trump to head the Public Buildings Service, told Bloomberg.
“But if someone put an offer on the table, we would evaluate it.”
Peters didn’t sugarcoat the state of these properties either, telling the Public Buildings Reform Board in January, “The deferred maintenance is reflected in the condition of these buildings. You know, if you toured many of them, you wouldn’t want to be there with your dog, much less with your work environment.”
Separately, a GSA rep told The Post in a statement, “To be clear, just because an asset is on the list doesn’t mean it’s immediately for sale. However, we will consider compelling offers (in accordance with applicable laws and regulations) and do what’s best for the needs of the federal government and taxpayer.”
The rep added, “Since publishing the initial list on March 4, 2025, we have received an overwhelming amount of interest.”
Many are aging relics, desperate for pricey repairs at a time when commercial tenants are chasing shiny new spaces loaded with perks.
The commercial real estate scene’s a mess, too, hammered by jacked-up interest rates and the COVID fallout. Office prices have cratered 36% from their 2022 peak through January, per Green Street analytics. Remote work has gutted demand, leaving cities like DC — where nearly 24% of office space sat empty by late 2024 — scrambling with vacancy rates worse than pre-pandemic levels and higher than Manhattan’s.
And converting these old federal clunkers into residential units is a major obstacle as construction and financing costs are through the roof.
Trump’s also mulling a relocation blitz, shifting agencies out of pricey DC to slash rent and salary bills. But that could deliver a knockout punch to DC’s already staggering office market.
Peters admitted the GSA needs to tread carefully: “very thoughtful” is how he put it, given the feds’ massive sway over local real estate. Still, the administration’s been trimming its property fat for over a decade — since 2015, they’ve offloaded 1,000-plus properties totaling 24 million square feet.
The Biden crew even floated selling eight buildings (1.5 million square feet) in December. Any sales, though, come with red tape: federal law forces excess properties to be offered to other agencies, state and local governments, homeless shelters and nonprofits before private buyers can swoop in. Some could even be sold and leased back to Uncle Sam to cut underused space and maintenance costs while streamlining management.
Meanwhile, Trump adviser Elon Musk has been on a tear, claiming he axed 748 leases for 9 million square feet of privately rented space.
“Crazy that the government was just renting and paying for upkeep services of hundreds of empty buildings!” he blasted on his social media platform, X, last week.
At the same time, Trump, Musk and the Office of Personnel Management are cracking down on remote work for federal employees, leaving some wondering if they’ll even have desks to return to.
Peters said any sale would weigh not just the cash from a deal but also the maintenance costs dodged and the price tag of moving workers elsewhere. Core federal spots like courthouses, labs, border ports and law enforcement hubs are off-limits, as are untouchable landmarks like the White House and National Building Museum.
