Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced a bill last week (Thursday, January 30) that would empower U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to enter into agreements with local governments or private entities to fund improvements at land ports of entry. The Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2013 (S. 178, a reintroduction of S. […]
Colliers International has just released its 3Q 2014 North America Office report. It notes that office demand is improving and the United States is on pace this year to create the most jobs since 1999. Further, office-using employment growth, at 2.8%, was even stronger than overall job growth. This was assisted by recovery in the FIRE sector. Indicative of the […]
Nakash Holdings (the investment arm of Jordache Enterprises) purchased 1301 New York Avenue from Boston Properties on August 22nd. The 201,281 RSF office building is entirely occupied by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under a GSA lease. The reported $135,000,000 ($670.70) price translates to an estimated cap rate between 5.2% and 5.4%, depending on how the […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) is typically referred to as the landlord for the federal government. On behalf of federal agencies it leases 191 million square feet in roughly 8,700 office, storage, lab and other types of leased locations across the United States and its territories (figures from when we conducted this analysis at the beginning of this […]
Which federal agency can claim (at least some) credit for more than 190 Nobel Prizes? The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.” It is the only federal […]
The graph above compares the percentage of leases containing termination rights to the percentage of non-cancelable leases. Data is derived from fiscal year-end snapshots of GSA data for all leases > 3,000 RSF. It is possible that no tenant in the United States has greater fondness for termination rights than the U.S. General Services Administration […]
Our investment sales team was especially prolific last week, issuing two new reports on the Washington, DC area property market. The 2013 Year End Washington, DC Capital Markets Report noted that many primary and secondary markets around the country saw markedly increased sales volume and pricing in 2013, yet performance of the Washington, DC metro region lagged slightly. Much […]
GSA is on track to complete a two-year, $39 million project to link the building systems at 39 of its high-energy-use buildings in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas on schedule in October, Federal Times reported last week. Siemens Government Services is installing sophisticated building automation systems, including solar photovoltaic, irrigation and lighting-control systems, as well […]
It’s hardly news that the largest single consumer of energy in the United States is the federal government, with its stock of 360,000 buildings and 650,000 fleet vehicles. What is surprising, though, is the extent to…
Site drawing of the “Potomac Hill Diplomatic Center” site as provided in GSA’s master plan RFI. As reported yesterday (Tuesday, February 19) by Dan Sernovitz in the Washington Business Journal, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) is “weighing a significant expansion of its office space in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood, where it would spread into […]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is one of the largest and most complex components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It also is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, with a workforce of more than 58,000 employees, including officers and agents, agriculture specialists, aircraft pilots, trade specialists, mission support staff, and canine enforcement officers and […]
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) held his first hearing as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management yesterday (Wednesday, March 13). The hearing examined the proposal to relocate the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As we’ve already reported, the FBI and GSA have […]
GSAXCHANGE, the investment sales arm of Colliers Government Solutions, has published its Mid-Year 2015 “Government-Leased Assets” report, which includes an overview of sales activity and trends in the federal sector. Some insights from this report: Cap rates…
If less greenhouse gas pollution and more jobs and energy independence are on your holiday list, President Obama unwrapped an early gift for you. On December 5, he signed a memorandum to implement the next step in his Climate Action Plan, directing federal agencies to consume 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The […]
