The Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE isn’t only interested in shrinking the federal payroll but is also moving quickly to terminate federal leases and dispose of government properties considered non-essential. Colorado isn’t being spared, and the plans for unwanted office space can offer insights into what might be coming next for head counts.
The federal government has tried to shrink its real estate holdings since the “Reduce the Footprint” initiative launched in 2015 during the Obama years. Under the Trump administration, that push has gone into overdrive and is playing out in ways that are hard for outside observers to decipher, said Brian Redmon, executive vice president with Arco Real Estate Solutions in Golden.
“The numbers are staggering,” said Redmon, a former GSA employee who now advises building owners on federal leases. “There absolutely is concern. What are the long-term plans here and what agencies are being targeted?”
On its online “Wall of Receipts,” DOGE lists 748 lease terminations across the country totaling just under 9.6 million square feet and $468 million in lease savings. Colorado has 19 lease terminations representing 357,000 square feet and $9.4 million in annual savings.
That represents about 8% of the 4.4 million square feet in federal leased space in Colorado, and it is still early. Assuming 150 square feet per employee, that works out to 2,380 fewer workers required.
Additionally, the General Services Administration, which oversees federal holdings, released a list of nearly two dozen government-owned buildings or land parcels, the majority located at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, as non-core or non-essential. About 1 million square feet out of the 6 million square feet the federal government owns is now considered not needed, according to a list which was published earlier in the week, but removed on Wednesday.
The largest lease termination comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which rents 86,809 square feet of space at 1670 Broadway in Denver. The location, known as the Amoco Tower, was rocked last summer when TIAA, its largest tenant, announced it would move roughly 1,000 financial service jobs from Denver to a new campus in Frisco, Texas, set to open next year.
The federal government paid $2.9 million a year to rent the space and exercising an early termination clause will save taxpayers $9.4 million, according to DOGE. A call to HUD’s public information officer in Denver was not returned.
The U.S. National Park Service holds the second-largest Colorado lease set to terminate, for 67,720 square feet at 1201 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. That lease costs $1.45 million per year. Other Fort Collins leases set to end are 43,599 square feet claimed by the U.S. Forest Service, and 7,803 square feet claimed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services.
The U.S. Geological Survey or USGS is letting go of two leased offices in Boulder, one in Grand Junction and one in Golden. The Grand Junction office, 445 W Gunnison Ave., is the largest at 44,747 square feet and an annual lease cost of $1.2 million. The two Boulder leases run 29,170 square feet and 3,830 square feet, while the one in Golden is 8,219 square feet.
The USGS monitors natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes and flooding, and is also responsible for mapping the country’s natural resource deposits and water resources. Even without those satellite offices, the USGS will retain a large footprint in the state, with 673,643 square feet of office and warehouse space in Lakewood at the Denver Federal Center, according to the GSA.
Many lease terminations in the first wave are centered on smaller field offices. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking to terminate a Lakewood lease for 21,015 square feet at 12596 West Bayaud Ave., as well as one in Durango for 1,245 square feet. The Lakewood location is home to the Corps’ Institute for Water Resources Risk Management Center Western Division.
Beyond losing its USGS office, Grand Junction could also lose a U.S. Social Security Administration office with 7,975 square feet, a U.S. Attorneys Office at 3,388 square feet and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office at 1,444 square feet. That assumes those properties are still on the next version of the non-core list that comes out and that a replacement space isn’t found.
The Environmental Protection Agency is giving up a Castle Rock lease at 10,800 square feet. Durango could lose a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Office lease at 8,900 square feet, according to DOGE. The Mine Safety Health Administration has already terminated its lease in Craig, which is on the smaller side at 4,328 square feet, but large for northwest Colorado.
The International Trade Administration, which has a mission of helping foster global trade, is on tap to surrender 3,885 square feet of space in the north tower at 999 18th St. in Denver.
Of the 1 million square feet of commercial space the GSA deemed non-core in Colorado earlier this week, 743,803 square feet was located at the Denver Federal Center. GSA also listed several land parcels it would like to unload. Redmon, who used to work at the Denver Federal Center, said a sale could prove difficult given how spread out the buildings are and the carve-outs that will be needed to keep the campus, which has checkpoints and a perimeter fence, secure.
Many of the unwanted buildings are also obsolete. Redmon used to work in Building 41, on the non-core list, and it has interior railroad tracks in the concrete of the floor, an artifact of when the building served as part of a World War II munitions plant. Building 67, which hosts multiple agencies in its spacious 341,557 square feet, is the largest of the non-core buildings with 14 floors. It was built in 1967.
The second-largest and most surprising Colorado property to land on the non-core list is the Cesar Chavez Building at 1244 Speer Blvd. in Denver. Redmon said the GSA has made significant investments in that building, which isn’t always the case. That makes its inclusion as a non-core holding unexpected.
Less surprising are two downtown parking garages and a parking lot at 22nd and Stout streets that the federal government managed but could soon be in private hands.
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