In the 113th Congress last year, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OR) introduced the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, S. 2262, a 136-page bill intended to update previous legislation on energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings. Among other things, it would require the General Services Administration (GSA) “to develop and […]
Investors and lenders frequently ask how often GSA exercises its termination rights. It’s a necessary question because roughly 75% of GSA leases contain some form of cancelation clause–typically a rolling right to terminate. The trepidation caused by these cancelable leases has been fueled in recent years by suspicions that GSA’s shrinking lease inventory, and related consolidation […]
This FEMA map produced two years ago compares 2007 and 2013 flood plains in lower Manhattan. The figures are still being calculated for the costs of Hurricane Sandy, which swept up the East Coast of the United States in the fall of 2012, but at the moment they stand at $68 billion. That makes Sandy the second costliest […]
As of December 31, 2014, U.S. insurance companies will no long provide coverage against acts of terrorism, and neither will the U.S. government back them in doing so. Those are the likely immediate effects of Congress’s…
The most common lease expiration dates (without regard for year of expiration) are highlighted in the chart above. To avoid confusion, note that the chart above lists the volume of leases expiring on each calendar day, regardless of the year of expiration. Did you sense a mild “thump” today? A slight disturbance in The Force? Today, […]
The roots of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) date back more than 200 years, to 1807, when the nation’s first scientific agency, the Survey of the Coast (later known as the U.S. Coast and…
The SBA recently (September 25, 2012) issued three final rules in the Federal Register, effective October 24, that increase the size standards for some types of firms in three North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sectors, including…
Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HIW) has announced that it has sold three government leased properties encompassing 553,000 square feet for $86.5 million or $156.42 PRSF. While the pricing may appear somewhat low on a PRSF basis, it equates to a respectable 7.05% cap rate. The properties were build-to-suits developed by Highwoods and are currently 100% […]
As we reported last July, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has big plans for the almost 110-acre, 15-block section of Southwest Washington, D.C., that is home to the Departments of Energy, Education, and Housing and…
Yesterday (Monday, July 2, 2012), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced plans to open regional offices in or around Dallas, Denver, and Silicon Valley, Calif. These offices are in addition to the agency’s already announced first satellite office, scheduled to open in Detroit next week, on July 13. According to the USPTO press […]
Solar panels installed atop DOE’s Forrestal Building headquarters in Washington, DC. 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 which that consumption has implications that are both […]
Twenty years ago, on April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck at the curb, directly in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. In the back of that truck was a 4,800 pound bomb, improvised using primarily fertilizer and fuel oil. McVeigh, having set the fuse, calmly exited the truck and […]
The Cotton Annex (Photo: Ted Nigrelli) Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing in the Cotton Annex, a vacant federal building just south of the National Mall. This hearing was the latest installment of the committee’s “Stop Sitting on Our Assets” campaign, the theme of which is to spur GSA into […]
The Social Security Administration is shrinking—though, as more and more baby boomers arrive at the age of SSA entitlements, the demands on it are growing. A report issued late in August by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) documents that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has reduced its physical footprint—that is, the total square footage of […]
