Elon Musk’s DOGE Ditches 100 Government Leases So Far

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has revealed more details about the leases, contracts and programs it has cut so far in Washington, D.C., and around the country. 

Less than one month into President Donald Trump’s second term, DOGE terminated, or allowed to expire, 99 of the federal government’s leases totaling some 2.3 million square feet of space across the U.S., according to DOGE’s government website. The vast majority of leases cut were less than 10,000 square feet, but most of the space on the chopping block and the largest concentration of terminated leases is located within the DMV.

DOGE’s list includes the name of the agency, city, square footage and annual cost of the leases, though it does not include their addresses or specific function. The majority, if not all, of the leases on DOGE’s list so far had lease agreements already set to expire in 2025 or 2026. The website claims that while its database will initially be updated only twice per week, cuts will eventually be reflected on its lists in real time.

The largest terminated lease so far was 845,389 square feet leased by the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. A property of that exact rentable square footage is at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, according to the General Services Administration’s real estate database, a site dubbed Postal Square. Built in 1914, the property served as the D.C.’s main post office for over 70 years — it now houses the National Postal Museum, Bureau of Labor Statistics (hence the Department of Labor designation on DOGE’s list) and U.S. Senate offices. It’s unclear if the terminated lease affects only the Bureau of Labor Statistics headquarters, or the museum and Senate offices as well. 

The annual cost of the lease was $26.4 million, and was set to expire May 14. DOGE sent a notice of termination for the lease on Jan. 30, resulting in a cost savings of $7.1 million, according to the non-governmental agency’s website. The property is co-owned by the United States Postal Service and Smithsonian. 

The second-largest cut lease, by far, was 259,130 square feet leased by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the District, per the website. A government lease of that size was at 400 Seventh Street SW, in a property known as Constitution Center. 

The FTC used the property for its satellite offices, though its lease (which cost $11.5 million per year) expired in January — DOGE designates the lease’s entry on its list as “true termination – lease backfill,” with a cost savings of $0 due to its already expired status. MetLife paid $734 million in 2012 for the 1.4 million-square-foot Constitution Center, making it one of the most valuable taxable properties in the District. 

Other notable leases cut in the DMV include two from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): 59,681 square feet for the agency’s Undersecretary of Management, at the CIM Group-owned 800 North Capitol Street NW, which expired this month; and 49,662 square feet at the Dreyfuss Holdings-owned 1616 Fort Myer Drive in Arlington, Va., which expired in January. The cut DHS leases are likely reflective of its long-gestating move to the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Southeast Washington, D.C. 

A separate entry on the list in Arlington denotes a 55,043-square-foot lease from “multiple” undefined agencies. The lease, which cost $2.6 million per year, had been in holdover and was terminated Jan. 31. Assuming a five-year continuance, the termination amounts to nearly $13 million in savings, per DOGE. 

A representative for the GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The leases cut or allowed to expire by DOGE have so far saved tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, according to its website. Though cutting leases is far from the only area of government spending targeted by Musk’s pseudo-agency. Hundreds of contracts ranging from news service subscriptions to diversity, equity and inclusion training programs have also so far been cut, alongside the tens of thousands of federal employees who have already taken advantage of the resignation buyout program offered by the Trump administration to cut down on the government’s workforce. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.