Hipolito F. Garcia Building during renovation (Photo: Waymarking.com) A green roof is the centerpiece of the renovated 75-year-old Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Antonio, part of what makes it the “greenest” building owned by GSA. It is the first GSA-owned building to earn LEED-Platinum certification, thanks to a $56.6 million […]
Government real estate at the federal, state and local level is roughly estimated to comprise 6 billion square feet in the United States and its territories. Colliers International Government Solutions operates in this space daily, advising both private landlords and public agencies on issues related to the real estate leasing, sales and policy matters unique to […]
A unique feature of GSA leases is that when lessors reduce their operating costs, GSA does not receive the benefit, because the government pays for operating cost adjustments based upon the change in CPI–not actual cost changes. Yet, GSA does reimburse lessors for actual increases in Real Estate Taxes. In the event that taxes decrease, GSA receives […]
The government right now is, well, it’s in turmoil. That’s voiced as an opinion but it feels like actual, quantifiable fact. The United States is still fighting its way out of a deep and prolonged recession,…
The federal property sector remains a small niche in the overall investment market, but it is also dynamic. Despite the fact that the overall federal real property inventory is shrinking, sales over the past 12 months have remained active. Remarkably, slightly more than half of all federally leased properties purchased in the past year were acquired by […]
The investment market for GSA-leased properties has become progressively robust as investors seek to place capital in long-term leased, stable assets. To the degree that these can be bought with 10+ years remaining (and a properly structured lease) many investors feel like they are buying a bond, except with improved returns. Unfortunately, however, there are […]
The House of Representatives, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, convened this morning in a mark-up hearing to finally approve 11 prospectuses, nearly all of which have been languishing on the Hill for more than a year. In fact, our quick review of the last 78 lease prospectuses approved by this committee confirms that process is rarely […]
Colliers today released its mid-year report profiling activity in North American office markets. The results are mostly bullish: Following the negative weather impact on most economic metrics earlier in the year, the U.S. economy rebounded well in subsequent months, adding more than 200,000 jobs per month between February and July and registering real GDP growth […]
With over 1,000 leased facilities, often in single-tenant buildings, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is a staple of many federal investor portfolios. Like other federal agencies, however, SSA has been dutifully implementing the “Reduce the Footprint”…
There are more than 5,000 distinct owners of GSA-leased properties in the United States but the ten listed above stand apart because, together, their properties house 15% of the entire GSA lease inventory. (GSA, take note:…
There are few investors of GSA-leased properties who have not engaged in hand-wringing over renewal rents, even when buying properties years in advance of the lease expiration date. Normally when presented with the question of whether the future rent is likely to increase, my response is to simply look at market rents on the whole. If they […]
Which federal agency operates the largest social insurance program in the world? The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) administers Social Security, the retirement, disability and survivors’ benefits that constitute more than 30% of all federal government expenditures. In 2012, more than 56 million Americans received about $778 billion in Social Security benefits. The agency’s predecessor, […]
The Nat King Cole Post Office in Los Angeles is for sale for $8.3 million. This is not a good time to consider embarking on a career as a letter carrier‚ especially not for someone living in a small town where not much mail comes down the chute. Neither is it a good time to […]
Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and Courthouse (Photo: HOK) The GSA is committed to responsible caretaking of its historic building legacy, which includes courthouses, post offices, border stations and offices around the country. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (AARA) is facilitating the agency’s efforts by providing $1.665 billion—roughly 40% of the GSA’s ARRA […]