In 2012, the Obama administration’s Freeze the Footprint policy order mandated that the federal government reduce its real estate footprint and curb its accumulation of unused or underused properties. The following year, the Office of Management…
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How the Murrah Building Bombing Changed Federal Facilities Security
Twenty years ago, on April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck at the curb, directly in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. In the back of that truck was a…
An Executive Order Mandates Energy Savings
It’s hardly news that the largest single consumer of energy in the United States is the federal government, with its stock of 360,000 buildings and 650,000 fleet vehicles. What is surprising, though, is the extent to…
The Pareto Principle and Federal Property Investment
In 1906, Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of Italy’s land was owned by 20% of its population. Eventually this observation was memorialized as the Pareto Principle or, more commonly, and applied to describe many phenomena, such as where 80% of a…
The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act—Redux
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…
Notes From GSA’s Annual “Lease Turnover Analysis”
At the end of each fiscal year GSA produces an analysis of its leasing activity that provides an interesting glimpse into the federal real estate sector. This spreadsheet report, the Lease Turnover Analysis, seeks to address many…
CPI Has Declined, and So Has Your Rent
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently posted the January 2015 Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures and the results show that the measure declined 0.1% from a year ago*. This would be of little consequence to most non-economists but federal landlords…
Tenant Star: A New Program for Energy Efficiency—in Limbo
On January 20, 2015, by a vote of 94 to 5, the U.S. Senate authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to create a voluntary “Tenant Star” program whose mission is, with the use of market incentives and…
Recently Closed Sales
If you are a GSA leased property owner, have you considered that now may be an excellent time to sell? Among other trends, we are noticing that GSA investors are pursuing acquisitions of shorter lease term…
Saving Energy and Tax Dollars: A New Report from the CBO Wrestles with Accounting for Both
In 2012, Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), bridging the partisan divide in Congress, created the House Energy Savings Performance Caucus, a group within the House that advocates for federal service contracts that emphasize…