In 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the fiscal watchdog within the federal government, issued an order requiring that federal agencies consolidate data centers in order to save money and reduce redundancies. Twenty-four agencies,…
The water is rising. So scientists working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently reported. Regardless of one’s point of view about ultimate causes, they note that the eastern and southern coastlines of the United States are increasingly subject to flooding as sea levels rise. On January 30 last year, President Obama issued […]
Current NGA Bethesda Campus At its monthly meeting last week, Thursday, February 2, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) unanimously approved a final master plan for the proposed $300 million Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda, a federal facility to be located on the site of the former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) headquarters on Sangamore Road, off MacArthur […]
GSA announced this afternoon that it has chosen the Trump Organization as the preferred team to redevelop the historic Old Post Office building. This apparently concludes an effort which has been going on for more than a decade. In December 2000 GSA submitted to Congress a plan for redevelopment of the Old Post Office; and, […]
The federal government is big. That is something about which few people of whatever political stripe would disagree. Excluding members of the armed services (but including Postal Service workers), there are about 2.7 million federal employees—as many people as live in Chicago. Yet, as the Wall Street Journal reports, this is the smallest number since 1966, […]
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…
