Nine Bay State federal buildings could be sold, as the Trump administration says it has identified more than 400 properties that are “not core to government operations.”
The local buildings on the U.S. General Services Administration list include the JFK Federal Building and the Tip O’Neill Federal Building.
The John F. Kennedy Federal Building, located next to Boston City Hall, is home to the offices of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Ed Markey. Other tenants there include the DEA, IRS, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor, Social Security Administration, and Health and Human Services.
The Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Federal Building, located in the West End, is the home to several agencies, including the: Boston Passport Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Department of State, Department of Agriculture, Small Business Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and more.
The list released Tuesday by the General Services Administration also includes the IRS service center in Andover, along with the John A. Volpe Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge — which for decades has partnered with the FAA to “develop aviation systems and procedures that improve the efficiency and safety of global aviation,” according to its website.
In Washington, D.C., the list includes the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which serves as FBI headquarters, the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, the Old Post Office building, and more.
“We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal,” the GSA wrote. “Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
The designations are part of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s unprecedented effort to slash the size of the federal workforce and shrink government spending.
“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” GSA said. “We can no longer hope that funding will emerge to resolve these longstanding issues. GSA’s decisive action to dispose of non-core assets leverages the private sector, drives improvements for our agency customers, and best serves local communities.
“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,” GSA added.
Eliminating federal office space has been a top priority of the new administration. Last month, GSA regional managers received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters ordering them to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide.
Herald wire services were used in this report.