DOGE Terminates 4 Federal Office Leases In Atlanta

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's has exited more than 150K SF of office space in Metro Atlanta in its push to drastically reduce the size of the federal government.

The federal government has terminated its 120K SF lease at the Williams Building in Chamblee near Atlanta.
The Federal Government Has Terminated Its 120K Sf Lease At The Williams Building In Chamblee Near Atlanta.

The largest office to get the ax outside of the Washington, D.C., area, according to DOGE's updated website, is a nearly 120K SF lease in Atlanta for the Department of Health and Human Services.

While DOGE doesn't specify the building where the lease was terminated, the federal government's inventory of leased space shows a lease of the same size at the Williams Building at 2877 Brandywine Road in Chamblee.

The lease for the building, which has been used as an office for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was initiated in 2016 and set to expire in March 2026.

DOGE says the lease termination is effective as of May 31, which saves the federal government a little more than $2M of remaining rent obligations on the building.

The building is owned by an affiliate of Chicago-based asset management firm Boyd Watterson Asset Management. The company purchased the 132K SF office building in 2018 for $26.5M from the TPA Group, according to DeKalb County records. Officials with Boyd Watterson didn't return calls seeking comment.

DOGE claims it has thus far canceled 2.3M SF of office leases, which cost the government an estimated $78.8M in annual payments. Many of the leases that were on the chopping block were set to expire within the next year.

That is also the case at the second-largest Atlanta-area lease to be terminated, a 17K SF office for the Food and Drug Administration. The inventory of leased spaces, maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration, shows a lease of that size at 2077 Convention Center Concourse, a four-story, 128K SF office building in College Park.

The building is owned by the College Park Business & Industrial Development Authority, according to Clayton County records. The agency did not return calls seeking comment.

The FDA is the third-largest tenant within the building, according to CoStar information obtained by Bisnow. The GSA inventory shows the lease was set to expire July 31. DOGE's website indicates the total estimated savings on canceling the lease is $0.

DOGE slashed a total of 153K SF in leases in Metro Atlanta, including 8,300 SF for a Federal Trade Commission office and a 7,700 SF lease for an agency called Allowance To Former Presidents.

DOGE said its site would be updated twice weekly to reflect further cuts it makes to the federal government. The Trump administration has made it a priority to reduce the size of the federal government.

As part of those cuts, the administration fired thousands of probationary employees at agencies across the government over the weekend, the Associated Press reported, including FDA employees in the agency’s food, medical devices and tobacco products.

And the AP reported that officials expect to fire 5,200 probationary employees within HHS, which oversees not only the FDA but also the CDC, whose workforce the Trump administration reportedly wants to trim by 10%.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's Atlanta Newsletters
Related Stories

Dan Wagner To Head Lee & Associates In Atlanta: The Atlanta Deal Sheet

Gwinnett Mall Project Stands To Benefit From Georgia's Opportunity Zone Picks

Morningstar Releases New Details On Over 350K SF In Q3 Office Leases

Weil Gotshal Wind-Down Leaves 830K SF Hole In America's Office Market

'Distress Is Finally Trading': Investors Chasing Big Discounts On Boston Office

Office Recovery Moving Faster Than Expected, CoStar Finds

Georgia's Utility Board Race Could Reshape Nearly 20 GW Pipeline Of Data Centers

How Microsoft, Coca-Cola And Amazon Are Adapting Their Offices For AI Age

Hof Wonen Acquires 251 Social Rental Houses In New Mixed-Use Project In The Hague

Related, Oxford Land Tenant For Top Floors Of 70 Hudson Yards

BXP Execs See Better Returns In Building Offices Than Buying Them

Downtown Office Tower Sells At Foreclosure Auction For $260M