The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has terminated roughly 2.3 million square feet of leases for federal office space in just a couple of weeks since beginning its efforts to cut government spending. DOGE said these lease terminations have saved millions of dollars so far.
The largest cuts by square footage have been made at the Department of Labor (845,000 square feet), the National Archives (125,000 square feet) and the Department of Health and Human Services (120,000 square feet). These three departments account for $9.2 million in savings combined, according to DOGE.
By amount saved, cuts at the DHS Office of the Undersecretary for Management in Washington, D.C., amount to a savings of $13.9 million, while lease terminations for offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., housing multiple agencies save $13 million and $12.7 million respectively.
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The commercial real estate industry has been closely watching DOGE’s activities as it has targeted the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal real estate and contracts, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for cuts. DOGE said it has saved an estimated $55 billion through lease cancelation and renegotiations as well as fraud detection, asset sales, grant cancellations and workforce reductions.
The savings attributable to federal office lease terminations total about $145 million. Affected agencies have moved to federal space or closed offices, while a few have remained in leased buildings until the terminations become effective. Tens of thousands of federal employees have been laid off or accepted offers to resign in the past month.
GSA owned or leased more than 363 million square feet of space in 8,397 buildings nationwide, as of Fall 2024. Agency managers have reportedly been told to terminate about 7,500 leases at a rate of 300 per day.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
