DOGE Lease Terminations In Colorado Reach 355K SF
The number of planned federal lease terminations in Colorado has jumped sixfold in one week, according to the Department of Government Efficiency, hitting 355K SF of office space, with several properties in Denver and its suburbs.
DOGE, the cost-cutting unit created by President Donald Trump, claims its moves are saving $20.8M in the state by ending 19 leases for 355K SF. The agency has been moving quickly to slash costs and in some cases has created confusion in the commercial real estate industry. In Washington, D.C., a broker received a notice of a lease cancellation that the federal government had no contractual authority to terminate.
Denver and Lakewood, considered vulnerable to DOGE’s mission due to the large federal presence in the cities, were hit especially hard in terms of lost lease revenue
Denver is losing two office leases that DOGE said add up to about $3.2M — significant lost revenue for an already struggling office market. The agency ended a lease for a federal department listed only as the Office of the Secretary, which occupied 87K SF, and terminated a 3,885 SF International Trade Administration lease, according to DOGE's “Wall of Receipts.”
Lakewood is losing 21K SF for the Corps of Civil Engineers, which DOGE says will cost landlords $449K.
The latest hit to the Geological Survey in Boulder is a 29K SF building that DOGE said is worth $4.6M in long-term federal savings, assuming a five-year lease continuation.
Castle Rock is losing a $1.3M lease for its 11K SF Environmental Protection Agency office; Durango’s office of the Corps of Civil Engineers is shuttering, which is estimated to save $38K; and the federal government will purportedly save $7K by shutting down the Wage and Hours Division of the Employment Standards Administration.
Grand Junction, home to Colorado River State Park, is losing $1.4M in further government leases, as DOGE is taking the ax to the Fish and Wildlife Service and Office of U.S. Attorneys as well as another termination of a Geological Survey lease.
Fort Collins — home to the main campus of land-grant school Colorado State University, internationally known for its agricultural and veterinary programs — will see an exodus from the 8K SF building that houses the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service as well as from a $1.2M, 45K SF Forest Service lease.
Three Colorado lease terminations were reported last week, including a U.S. Geological Survey lease at the University of Colorado Boulder, a Mine Safety Health Administration lease in Craig and a Social Security Administration lease in Grand Junction.
This week’s announced cuts double down on the Geological Survey in Boulder and hit Grand Junction twice more. Few areas of the state were spared: From Craig in the northwest to Durango in the southwest, and from Fort Collins in the north to Colorado Springs in the south, ditched properties span much of Colorado’s Front Range and Western Slope.
The precise status of the lease terminations is unclear, with DOGE changing the descriptions listed on its Wall of Receipts over the weekend. All of the Colorado leases were marked with the description “Termination via Mass Mod,” which likely means “mass modifications,” defined by the General Services Administration as “government-initiated modifications that occur when a uniform change occurs under the [Multiple Award Schedule] program. A prime example is a refresh to the terms and conditions of your contract.”
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 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.
Terminated leases across the nation surged from around 250 last week to roughly 750 as of Sunday — a 200% increase. DOGE says that represents about $660M in savings.
