WASHINGTON, DC-Weeks after the White House proposed a structure similar to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to help facilitate the sale of unused or unneeded government-owned real estate, Congress has taken the first steps to push the idea to the finish line. On Wednesday, a House of Representatives subcommittee marked up and then approved a bill that would set up such a commission to identify real estate properties that would be put out for sale.
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), chairman of the House subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management, sponsored the bipartisan bill, which had much input from the Obama Administration.
As described in an Office of Management and Budget conference call, staffed by US chief performance officer Jeffrey Zients and US controller Daniel Werfel, this commission, whose membership will be approved by Congress, will determine which properties should be sold. They will base the decisions on real estate fundamentals and pricing, to avoid geo-political considerations as well as the temptation to rush to a fire sale. Congress will vote whether or not to take their recommendations.
The same day that the White House announced its intention to push this bill, it also released a map showing some 14,000 federal properties that could be targeted for sale.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
