Which federal agency’s headquarters is housed in a structure whose cornerstone was laid with the same silver trowel that President George Washington used to lay the cornerstone of  the U.S. Capitol in 1793?  Since 1938, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been headquartered in the Apex Building—so named because it sits at the apex of […]

“Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, Stuck in the middle with you.” Once you get a song in your head it’s hard to get it back out.  These Stealers Wheel lyrics certainly resonated when listening to the opening of today’s congressional mark-up hearing.  Of course, we don’t really regard […]

“Man Controlling Trade” sculpture outside FTC headquarters building Two Art Deco sculptures adorn the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) headquarters at Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues, depicting muscular men wrestling rebellious stallions and symbolizing government’s role in controlling trade. But a contentious hearing on December 3rd of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations suggests another interpretation: the […]

Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building (photo: Bryant D., Foursquare) The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building is a seven-story, 617,600-square-foot structure in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, near the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. Designed by Cerny Associates in the austere modernist style popular in the 1960s and completed in 1969, until last summer it housed some 1,100 federal […]

From left to right: Constitution Center, the Old Post Office, 601 New Jersey and 1800 M Street (renovation rendering) GSA now has a plan to lease all of the remaining 358,000 square feet of space at Constitution Center and distribute it among the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National […]

Since 2003, the General Services Administration (GSA) has required basic LEED certification for all federal buildings, and it upped the ante in 2010 by requiring LEED-Gold. But every five years, thanks to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the GSA must review green building certification systems, then report its findings to the Secretary […]

“Before” and “After” Photos of the Edith Green-Wendall Wyatt Building Renovation. On May 30, Portland, Oregon, celebrated the completion of a $139 million renovation of the 18-story Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building (EGWW). First opened in 1975, the boxy, concrete-and-steel high rise, aging home to the IRS, FBI, BLM, and other agencies, was transformed over […]

Photo: GSA Blogs More than six years after ground was broken—and after a nearly two-year construction stoppage—the federal government officially opened the new NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction at the University of Maryland’s M Square Research and Technology Park last week (October 15). The 268,762-square-foot, four-story building is now home to more than […]

A Notice of Availability was issued this month for the Point Fermin lighthouse, San Pedro, CA (photo: Point Fermin Lighthouse Society) “I want to marry a lighthouse keeper And keep him company I want to marry a lighthouse keeper And live by the side of the sea…” For more than a decade, ever since the […]

The Colliers Government Solutions team represents owners of government-leased properties nationally. So, we travel a lot. This slideshow profiles my recent trip to Fresno, California. (Use arrow buttons to advance slides) http://www.capitolmarkets.com/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Fresno Sign.jpg Fresno bills itself as the “Best Little City in the U.S.A.” We may debate the accuracy of this claim but clearly it’s […]

As procrastinating Americans prepare to file their 2012 federal tax returns by midnight tonight (April 15), we thought this would be a good time to take a look at the agency to which they’ll be sent: the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS’s mission is to “provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them […]

Since 1990, the Government Accountability Office has been reporting on federal government operations that it identifies as “high risk” because of their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste and mismanagement; its biennial reports aim to help the federal government identify problems that keep it from operating economically, efficiently and effectively. “Managing Federal Real Property” was added […]

Which federal agency oversees the operation of the nation’s 100+ power-producing nuclear reactors, as well as about 36 research and test reactors? Created by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began operations on January 19, 1975. Its mission is “to license and regulate the nation’s civilian use of byproduct, source, […]

From the 7,000-acre Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Services Center in Beltsville, Md.; more than 200 of its more than 500 structures are currently vacant or underutilized. (Source: Oversight and Government Reform Committee Flickr site) As we reported last month, although Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) had to resign as chairman of the House Transportation and […]