Trump admin. marks hundreds of federal buildings up for sale: Time
3 Min Read
President Donald Trump plans to sell up to 443 federal properties, as listed on the General Services Administration's website.
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President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on November 19, 2024. (AP)
On Tuesday, the Trump administration released a list of over 440 federal properties it planned to close or sell, including the FBI headquarters and the Department of Justice building, citing that they were "not core to government operations."
However, just hours later, a revised list was issued, trimming the list to 320 properties, none of which were in Washington, DC. The General Services Administration did not immediately comment on the changes.
The original list included high-profile buildings such as the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, the Old Post Office, and the American Red Cross headquarters, along with various courthouses and offices across the US.
Other notable locations on the list were the Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indiana and the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center. Despite this, around 80% of federal workers are based outside Washington, DC.
“We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal,” the GSA said of the list of 443 properties. Selling the properties “ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal space,” it said, and “helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
The move is part of an effort by Trump and Elon Musk to cut the federal workforce and reduce government spending. They claim selling these properties could save hundreds of millions of dollars while reshaping how major Cabinet agencies operate. Additionally, the Trump administration has mandated that federal employees return to in-office work daily.
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Many of the targeted buildings house agencies Trump has long criticized, including the FBI and Justice Department. The FBI and HUD headquarters, both brutalist structures, stand in contrast to Trump’s preference for neoclassical architecture.
Eliminating federal office space has been a key priority. Last month, GSA regional managers were instructed to begin canceling leases for all 7,500 federal offices, with a goal of terminating up to 300 per day.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Musk, has published lists of canceled leases, sparking concerns about the future of services provided by these offices.
The list includes major federal properties such as a courthouse in Los Angeles, an IRS computing center in West Virginia, and multiple IRS service centers nationwide.
Also targeted are buildings named after civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, as well as the Montgomery bus station, now the Freedom Rides Museum. The GSA's Public Buildings Service stated that most properties deemed unnecessary are office spaces.
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