The Department of Government Efficiency expects to shed more than two million square feet of federal office space and reduce the government’s rent bill by over $144 million, according to The Real Deal’s analysis of data posted to what DOGE calls its “Wall of Receipts.”
Those cuts hit Washington, D.C., the hardest – about 1.4 million square feet of leases valued at $49 million were cancelled or restructured in that city, if the accounting is correct. But as The Real Deal analyzed the recently released list of affected leases, we found some holes.
Some buildings list zero square feet of impacted office space, but place significant value on the leases. For example, two Department of Homeland Security offices in New York City, whose addresses were not listed, have zeroes under the “square feet” column but cite “true termination” of the offices and $1.3 and $2.3 million in savings respectively.
The data claims that some leases would yield savings that are higher than the stated values of those leases, and others less. Those with higher savings totals seem to assume five-year continuations of the leases, and are often the annual value multiplied by five. The actual remaining terms on the leases are largely not listed. It also is unclear if the federal government had to pay any fees for breaking leases early.
Three lease terminations – for a Food and Drug Administration office in Atlanta, a Federal Trade Commission office in D.C., and a Geological Survey office in El Paso – would reportedly result in no savings.
Other leases, like the Social Security Administration’s office in White Plains, N.Y., were set to expire this year regardless. One office in West Virginia is being closed “temporarily.”
The New York Times also has identified issues with the Wall of Receipts.
The city with the second-most amount of targeted office space, per DOGE’s calculations, was Atlanta, with more than 153,000 square feet, valued at $3.3 million, for a savings of about $3.7 million.
DOGE noted on its website that the data would be updated twice per week. The Real Deal will update our own analysis as more information becomes available.
Here is the complete list of buildings and leases targeted by DOGE, along with their anticipated savings.
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