Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), chairwoman of the Department of Government Efficiency Caucus, touted the sale of a major federal office building in Washington, D.C., as part of her broader push to shrink the government’s real estate footprint and cut costs.
The General Services Administration announced Wednesday that it had completed the sale of the GSA Regional Office Building in southwest Washington near the National Mall, on a roughly 940,000-square-foot facility on more than 3.4 acres that has sat vacant since March 2025.
The building, which once housed the Department of Homeland Security, was listed for accelerated disposal last year as part of President Donald Trump’s directive to reduce federal waste.
“This building has been empty for over a year, but that ends today,” Ernst said at a Wednesday press briefing, displaying a “for sale” sign marked with a sold sticker.
GSA Administrator Edward Forst said the transaction is expected to save taxpayers more than $200 million in deferred maintenance costs, along with an additional $5.5 million annually in operating expenses. The agency framed the deal as a “blueprint” for future efforts to offload underutilized federal building space.
Ernst, who has led a yearslong push to sell off vacant government buildings, said the deal underscores the cost of maintaining unused property.
“Even though this building has been vacant, the American people have still been footing the bill,” Ernst said in a statement, adding that the sale will save “Americans over $205 million” and take an “additional $500 million in required updates off taxpayers’ tab.”
Her office has pointed to broader inefficiencies across the federal real estate portfolio. In 2024, Ernst said the federal government was spending more than $81 million annually to maintain underutilized office space, including nearly 7,700 vacant buildings and more than 2,200 others that are largely empty.
According to the GSA, deferred maintenance across federal properties already exceeds $6 billion and could climb to $20 billion within five years.
The newly sold building sits near L’Enfant Plaza in southwest Washington, an area that has seen rapid redevelopment in recent years.
The buyer, Dalian Development, said it plans to pursue a long-term redevelopment that aligns with the neighborhood’s shift toward mixed-use residential and commercial space.
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“We see Southwest D.C. as one of the last blank canvases in a major city of the United States,” Vice President of Development at Dalian Development Eric Mulata said. “We have the opportunity to be the first stroke of that canvas.”
The sale marks one of the first major dispositions of a large federal office building in the capital under the current administration, as officials signal more properties could soon follow
