Philly’s U.S. Custom House Reappears on GSA Disposition List Amid Federal Downsizing Efforts
An iconic Old City property has been added to a U.S. General Service Administration disposal list for the second time in two months.
The roughly 437K SF U.S. Custom House at 200 Chestnut St. reappeared on GSA’s website Thursday alongside three other properties in Washington, Ohio and Oregon.
The building has been marked for accelerated disposition.
“GSA is focused on rightsizing the federal real estate portfolio to reduce the burden on the American taxpayer while also delivering space that enables its agency customers to achieve their missions,” the agency said in its description of the list.
The Custom House was one of four Philadelphia properties that made it onto an earlier GSA “non-core” asset list which was published March 4 and deleted the following morning.
It appeared alongside the Mid-Atlantic Social Security Center at 300 Spring Garden St. in Northern Liberties, the Veterans Administration Center at 5000 Wissahickon Ave. in East Falls and a fourth property identified only as “Federal Building 05.”
That earlier disposal list, which included 443 properties, was removed from GSA’s website the following morning.
A GSA spokesperson told Bisnow it received an “overwhelming amount of interest” after publishing that list and planned to republish it soon. At that time, the spokesperson also clarified that a building's inclusion on the list didn’t mean it was immediately for sale, but that the government would consider “compelling offers.”
The Custom House was completed in 1934 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. It is home to several federal agencies, including Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection field offices and a satellite office for Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.
