The first increments of the U.S. Coast Guard relocation to its new St. Elizabeths headquarters begins August 1st. Since groundbreaking in 2009, 160,000 truckloads of earth have been excavated, 250,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured and 40 miles of plumbing pipes have been installed in Southeast D.C., all in preparation for a new […]

Facing a projected budget deficit of more than $14 billion, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced last month (on February 23) that it will slash the size of its mail processing network by almost half.  Of the 264 plants (out of a total of 461 plants nationwide) on a closing review list, 223 will be […]

Each year, the House and Senate authorize each federal agency, department, or program to spend a specific amount of money, and the President signs the bill into law. But this money may not be spent until Congress also has explicitly appropriated it for a given purpose. An agency may, for example, be authorized to spend […]

Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Scott Brown (R-MA) at press conference announcing postal reform plan (Photo: Charles Dharapak/Associated Press) In a 62–37 vote late last month (April 25), the Senate approved the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S. 1789), a bipartisan bill that promises financial relief for the U.S. Postal Service […]

It’s that time of year. Market reports are published, conferences held and presentations delivered. We are all talking about the market: “What happened last year?” and “What can we forecast for this next year and beyond?” Unfortunately, some of the answers can be misleading. Here are three stats that are often cited in fundamentally incorrect ways: […]

Fifty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In remembrance of this somber occasion, President Obama recently issued a proclamation naming this past Friday a Day of Remembrance and directing the flag to be flown at half-staff*. Thousands of buildings and residences across the United States dutifully recognized this presidential proclamation and displayed […]

The federal government’s selection of a green building certification system for the next five years has become a controversial issue, with no clear resolution in sight. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) requires GSA to evaluate green building certification systems every five years, in order to identify one that is “deem[ed] to be […]

Though the federal lease inventory continued to shrink in 2015, there was plenty of action, especially in the Washington, DC area where most of the big federal tenants reside. Here is a selection of the most notable transaction activity…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed by President Obama on February 13, 2009, called for major new construction and the energy-efficient modernization of federal office buildings, courthouses and land ports across the country. This article—which…

National Science Foundation’s Headquarters at 4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA Watching the National Science Foundation shuffle in the starting blocks, most of the Northern Virginia real estate community has expressed certainty that, especially in this budget environment, NSF is unlikely to be moving from its present location in Ballston.  The one-time costs to relocate and […]

The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation.”  It was created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to restore…

Which agency is the second-largest investigative agency in the federal government? Created on March 1, 2003, through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is second only to the FBI, with more than 20,000 employees […]

Earlier this week (Wednesday, February 20), GSA rededicated the 95-year-old, 41,562-square-foot Wayne N. Aspinall Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Grand Junction, Colo., after 23 months of construction that addressed the dual challenges of historic preservation…

In last week’s election, the Republicans won majority control of the Senate and further solidified their control of the House of Representatives. This means that the Republicans will lead the 114th Congress when it convenes next year. Is this event positive for federal property investors? The answer is a resounding yes, but not necessarily for any ideological reason. It is simply […]