The federal government has announced plans to sell the USDA South Building, bolstering a Trump administration push to shed underused D.C. agency buildings where maintenance has been deferred for years.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the General Services Administration, the federal government’s landlord, said the decision implements a law that former President Joseph R. Biden signed in January 2025 requiring that federal buildings be at least 60% occupied.
“On any given day, more than 70% of the seats in this building sit empty,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday in a statement. “Taxpayers foot the bill for these empty offices, all while deferred maintenance costs continue to add up and up and up.”
Ms. Rollins estimated the government spends more than $1 billion “and counting” on the USDA building alone.
Sen. Joni Ernst, the Iowa Republican who sponsored the legislation, said the Biden administration allowed the USDA to keep the building at 11% occupancy in December 2023 during pandemic telework arrangements.
“So the previous administrations, the USDA denied their ghost town, but Secretary Rollins took action on this,” Ms. Ernst said. “She tracked down the utilization numbers and ensured that taxpayer dollars and space are being used wisely.”
Details of the proposed sale remain unclear. The Washington Times has reached out to the GSA and the White House Office of Management and Budget for comment.
The announcement is the latest in a series of Trump administration moves to shrink the federal government’s footprint in the District.
In May, OMB approved the bipartisan Public Buildings Reform Board’s recommendation to axe 11 government buildings worth $5.4 billion in the D.C. metro area and seven other cities, including the massive Energy Department headquarters.
The independent federal watchdog was established under the Obama administration to trim underused government properties. It is scheduled to sunset at the end of this year.
Paul Walden, the board’s executive director, said it was evaluating the USDA South Building as part of a final round of recommendations he expects to send to OMB in late fall.
He described the proposed sale on Thursday as a complicated situation, given that tunnels and catwalks connect USDA South to the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, the agency’s primary headquarters building.
“We do not yet know the actual cost of separating the buildings,” Mr. Walden said. “We have to demonstrate these disposals have a net gain for the taxpayer, and we do not yet have the data to determine it.”
