USPS Picks CBRE As Sole Provider

WASHINGTON, DC-The US Postal Service, beleaguered by budget woes, has decided to consolidate its corporate real estate services operations under one service provider. CB Richard Ellis is the lucky recipient of this assignment, which includes a portfolio of some 35,000 facilities that total more than 300 million square feet. CBRE has been working with the USPS since 1997--but as one of many service providers.

There is no dollar value assigned to the new contract, a spokesman for the USPS tells GlobeSt.com. "Under the contract we define the scope of the work for each transaction," he says, adding that there are approximately 200 transactions a year.

CBRE’s Brian Murphy led the pursuit team, which consisted of partners in the local office as well as in Denver and New York. John Chichester will serve as the alliance director for the account. CBRE declined to comment on the deal beyond the press release.

Under its new contract with the USPS, CBRE will provide transaction management services, including leasing and disposition. For several years, the Postal Service has been culling, consolidating and otherwise streamlining its operations--including its real estate--in order to meet its budget constraints, a separate issue from the federal deficit drama currently underway in Washington, DC.

Such transactions over the years have ranged from the sale of 25 acres of commercially-zoned land in Aliso Viejo, Orange County to the sale of the 3-million-square-foot Old Main Post Office building in Chicago, along with its five-story annex building.