The federal agency that manages government property plans to temporarily move its Washington, D.C., headquarters down the street from its current location as part of a larger effort to reduce what it considers underused space to save taxpayer money.
The General Services Administration plans to relocate its operations in July from the seven-story, 814,000-square-foot building at 1800 F St. NW to 1900 E St. NW, about a five-minute walk away, it said Monday. The E Street building, also known as the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, serves as the headquarters of the Office of Personnel Management, the government's chief human resources agency.
Cohabitating at the Roosevelt building won't be permanent for the GSA and OPM. Both agencies intend to move their offices into the F Street property following a renovation that's expected to be completed at the end of 2028. That would leave the Roosevelt property vacant and position it for a possible sale.
The federal government has sought to trim what it considers excess real estate to reduce public spending, a strategy that's been stepped up under President Donald Trump's second administration. In the past few weeks, other federal entities have also announced plans to shift space within the nation's capital, moves that could also lead to a building sale.
"For too long, the federal government has paid for space it doesn't use, buildings it cannot afford to maintain and, in some cases, cannot even occupy. That ends now," GSA Administrator Edward Forst said Monday during a press briefing.
The estimated cost to renovate 1800 F St., as well as the estimated savings from a potential sale of the Roosevelt building, are still being worked out, Forst said.
The GSA already submitted a fiscal year 2026 prospectus, an annual request to Congress for additional funds for a specific project, for nearly $240 million for its headquarters transformation.
Design firm hired
While the GSA works to secure formal approval of its prospectus for the renovation, it intends to use other available funding to begin initial design work in the months ahead, the agency said. A design firm was hired, and the retention of an architect is in the works, Forst said.
Built in the early 20th century, the limestone building at 1800 F St. NW takes up an entire city block and is considered one of the first truly modern office buildings constructed by the U.S. government. Initially designed for the U.S. Department of the Interior, the building was taken over by the GSA in the late 1940s.
In the 1920s, the building was the "locus" of the "Teapot Dome" scandal involving Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, who was convicted and imprisoned for accepting bribes from oil magnates in return for secretly granting them rights to drill for oil on federal lands.
The Roosevelt building, on E Street, was constructed between 1960 and 1963 for the Civil Service Commission, according to the National Capital Planning Commission. The property is a seven-story, 500,000-square-foot building, according to Baltimore engineering firm James Posey Associates.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees work in office space provided by the GSA, an agency that oversees roughly 360 million rentable square feet. In the last days of President Joe Biden's administration, a law was enacted requiring certain federal agencies to measure building occupancy and utilization. The first snapshot of that data was released last month.
The utilization rate of the Roosevelt building sits at a little over 50%, OPM's director said during the briefing.
About 40% of the GSA's headquarters space has been deemed uninhabitable due to longstanding delinquent maintenance, Forst said. The utilization rate exceeds 60% for the part of the complex suitable for occupation.
Meanwhile, staffing levels at GSA have adjusted since the beginning of Trump's second term. Earlier this month, a federal watchdog agency published a report saying workforce reductions at the GSA have affected customer service, with one tenant agency noting that high attrition last year left fewer personnel available who were adequately trained to carry out responsibilities.
The number of staff who work for the Public Buildings Service within the GSA declined to just over 3,100 from almost 5,700 between September 2024 and November 2025, the report found. The watchdog offered recommendations on the reorganization, which the GSA agreed to.