DOGE Hits The Denver Metro With Boulder Termination
The Department of Government Efficiency says it will save U.S. taxpayers about $50K per year by terminating a Boulder lease for the U.S. Geological Survey.
9News confirmed that the building’s owner, the University of Colorado Boulder, received a notification from the General Services Administration this week and that the lease will expire in August.
CU Boulder told 9News it isn't clear where employees working from the building would go once the lease expires.
“Termination details are still being finalized. The lessor and customer have been notified, and the strategy is under development,” according to the DOGE listing for the USGS property.
A list of more than 250 real estate leases impacted by the unit, created by President Donald Trump, was posted to the “Wall of Receipts” on the DOGE website as of Thursday. The site is designed to provide public updates on the agency’s cost-cutting efforts “in a digestible and fully transparent manner,” it says.
The USGS is a scientific extension of the Department of the Interior, studying land and water use, mineral resources, energy and ecosystems. It is the primary government source of publicly available maps and images of Earth, according to its website.
USGS had more than 400 offices across all 50 states and 10,000 employees, although it is unclear how recent rounds of firings, lease terminations or potential layoffs could impact the agency.
The GSA recently said it aims to slash its budget in half and terminate many of its 13,000 employees. Congress established the GSA in 1949 to help the federal government function efficiently.
The GSA owns 89 buildings totaling 6.8M SF in Colorado, and it leases another 4M SF in the state. The Centennial State is seen as particularly vulnerable to DOGE’s cost-cutting measures due to this large federal real estate footprint.
Nationally, the GSA has more than 7,500 leases. More than half of them are set to expire by 2028 or can be terminated before then, according to an S&P Global Ratings analysis.
The wide scope and unpredictable nature of federal cuts and DOGE actions have put landlords, REITs and other organizations with large real estate portfolios in a risky position.
DOGE has impacted two more federal leases in Colorado, according to its Wall of Receipts. One is a closed Mine Safety and Health Administration office in Craig, which DOGE calls a “true termination” projected to save $921K based on a $184K annual lease, assuming a five-year lease continuation. The other is a planned Social Security Administration office closure in Grand Junction, which DOGE says will save $433K, assuming a $273K annual lease.
Neither of those terminations has been confirmed by sources outside of DOGE.
