Trump admin to hold fire sale for 400 agency buildings; Pelosi site deemed ‘threat to public safety’

The Trump administration has listed more than 400 federal properties it wants to ditch, including some high-profile agency buildings in Washington and the office building in San Francisco that bears the name of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The buildings total nearly 78 million square feet of office space that the General Services Administration, the government’s main landlord, says has been deemed “non-core assets.”

GSA said the buildings have become too “obsolete and unsuitable” for federal agencies’ use, and Congress doesn’t have enough money to fix them.

“GSA will consider non-core assets for divestment from government ownership 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 agency said Tuesday.

More than 40 of the non-core properties are in Washington. The FBI headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue and the Agriculture South Building on Independence Avenue lead the list with nearly 3.8 million square feet of space.

Other major department and agency headquarters are also on the list, including the Justice Department, the Labor Department, the Health and Human Services Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Even the GSA’s headquarters is on the list.

GSA’s list also targets dozens of properties in the surrounding suburbs in Virginia and Maryland, including the Energy Department campus in Germantown, the Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland and many buildings on the Federal Research Center campus in Silver Spring, home to the Food and Drug Administration.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, criticized the potential sales in his state.

“While no one is opposed to bringing greater efficiency to our government, this haphazard proposal has no basis in efficiency,” he said, adding that the sales would “cause greater chaos and confusion.”

GSA says it owns about 1,700 properties and leases space in 6,700 others. They include courthouses, border crossings, office buildings and labs.

The Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building has been a high-profile target for some time.

The 18-story building opened in 2007 as the San Francisco Federal Building. Mrs. Pelosi’s name was added in 2022 as a parting gift when she relinquished her post as speaker of the House.

She maintains office space in the building, as do the Health and Human Services Department, the Labor Department, the Agriculture Department, the Transportation Department and the Social Security Administration.

In 2023, as an open-air drug market created safety risks on the plaza outside the building, some employees were told to stay home rather than work in person.

Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, called the building “a threat to public safety” and urged its closure.

In 2020, during his first term in office, President Trump labeled the Pelosi building “one of the ugliest structures” in San Francisco. He held it up as an example of offensive federal building design, and he issued an executive order calling for a return to more classical public architecture.

President Biden revoked that order. Mr. Trump has since reinstated it.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported last month that the Pelosi building could be on the chopping block but predicted there would be buyers, though perhaps at a depressed price.

The California Globe saw things differently. It said one building occupancy researcher said the building “is very ugly” and will have to be renamed.

“This building will be a hard sell,” the expert told the news outlet.

The Washington Times has sought comment from Mrs. Pelosi’s congressional office.

GSA’s Public Buildings Service said it is looking for “creative solutions” for the more than 400 buildings on its non-core list.

That includes the possibility of a sale-lease back or other partnerships.

The government is pushing to eliminate space even as Mr. Trump battles to force federal workers to return to office. Republicans say the government must either fill the space or lose it.

“PBS remains fully committed to meeting the mission needs of our customer agencies and seeks to improve the quality of space provided through consolidation into a smaller footprint,” the agency said. “PBS is excited to undertake this overhaul of the portfolio and looks forward to delivering the federal workforce world class work environments as they return to office.”