Kurt Stout, Charles Dilks, Keith Lavey, Jarrett Morrell, Matthew Johnston and Victoria Abbasi

The Colliers Government Solutions Team, led by Executive Vice President Kurt Stout, felt fortunate to have the federal government as its counterpart during the pandemic, as many private-sector businesses rolled up into the fetal position, while the federal government remained active.

“We have all been pleased with the discovery that we were able to work effectively from home,” Stout said. “I don’t feel as though we missed a beat and, like many, we were, by some measures, even more productive.”

The group stayed busy working on transactions from coast to coast in the government sector. In the D.C. area, the team recently completed a 90,000-square-foot, 15-year renewal of a Drug Enforcement Administration training center in Lorton, Va. In Downtown D.C. proper, it completed a 167,000-square foot, 10-year renewal of an Internal Revenue Service location.

But, this was just the tip of the iceberg for its strong year throughout the U.S. On the investment sales side, the group sold a 180,000-square-foot, Small Business Administration disaster loan processing facility in Fort Worth, Texas — a key location for the U.S. government’s disaster response. It also sold a 122,000-square-foot federal building in Billings, Mt.

“Even our management team was able to continue onboarding assets during the pandemic,” Stout said. “On a net basis, we brought 30 new buildings into our management portfolio. We now manage more than 350 government-leased buildings across the U.S.”

The team also includes Executive Vice President Charles Dilks, a founding partner of the government solutions practice group; Executive Vice President Keith Lavey; Senior Vice President Jarrett Morrell; Senior Vice President Matthew Johnston; and Senior Associate Victoria Abbasi.

“Strategically, we’ll continue doing what we have been, which is to further grow our platform and more tightly integrate our various government-focused services,” Stout said. “Our leasing business is but one component of our overall government solutions platform. Tactically, we need to get back out on the road. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams sustained us, but in our business, we still believe that in-person meetings are critical.”

Before the pandemic, the federal government had already been downsizing its real estate footprint in an effort to reduce costs. Since the government is a major tenant in D.C., its decisions will significantly impact the market and Colliers’ strategy ahead.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property, has downsized almost 11 million square feet since 2012, a 19 percent reduction of its D.C.-area leased footprint.

“We’ll see that trend continue for a while, but there should be some countervailing growth based on Biden administration spending and initiatives,” Stourt said. “So, our hope is that we’ll eventually experience stabilization heading into next year.”