ST. LOUIS — The federal agency in charge of government real estate wants to sell three St. Louis-area buildings, including downtown's Robert A. Young Federal Building.

The U.S. General Services Administration on Tuesday identified 443 buildings across the country that it determined are not "core" to government operations. Disposing of those properties could save the government more than $430 million in annual savings, the agency said in a statement.

The agency did not provide a timeline of when any of the properties would be listed for sale.

“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” the agency said in a statement. “We can no longer hope that funding will emerge to resolve these longstanding issues.”

People are also reading…



The Robert A. Young Federal Building has just under 1 million square feet of office space at Spruce Street and Tucker Boulevard. Various federal agencies have offices there, including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The GSA's announcement comes as President Donald Trump's administration embarks on its own initiative to cut federal spending. The Department of Government Efficiency, the task force run by billionaire Elon Musk, has listed several local offices on its "wall of receipts" website, including a Food and Drug Administration lab in the Central West End.

In 2019, the Robert A. Young building underwent a $75 million renovation to better stabilize it in case of earthquakes .

More than 2,000 people worked at the building before the pandemic, the GSA said.

"GSA will consider non-core assets for divestment from government ownership in an orderly fashion to ensure taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space, or the significant maintenance costs associated with long-term building ownership," the agency said in the release.

The GSA said it will conduct market research on best uses and will consider “creative solutions” in disposing of the properties, such as sale-leasebacks, in which the agencies would remain in the building that would be owned by a private landlord.

The agency said it will continuously review and update the list.

CONTINUE READING
RELATED ARTICLES