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Elon Musk's DOGE Says It Has Terminated 22 Federal Leases

The Trump administration is swiftly executing new space reductions by the day. 

The administration has canceled 22 leases, equating to $44.6M in cost savings for the federal government, the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency posted on X Sunday evening.

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The General Services Administration's headquarters at 1800 F St. NW in D.C.

The post didn't say which buildings were part of the termination.

On Jan. 27, DOGE posted that three leases of “mostly empty office space” had been terminated, equating to $1.6M in savings, a post that new General Services Administration acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian retweeted.

Sunday’s post says the uptick in lease terminations from three to 22 had occurred in the six days between the posts.

“It’s got the market on edge right now,” a federal real estate leasing veteran told Bisnow on Monday.

The source, who was granted anonymity due to the nature of their work with the government, said rumors are circulating that “lots more are coming” for the GSA's “soft-term” leases, meaning leases that have a rolling schedule of expiration options. 

The GSA, which oversees the federal government’s 360M SF owned and leased portfolio, didn't respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. 

President Donald Trump and Musk have taken rapid action over the first few weeks of the new administration to cut down on government spending. One of Trump’s first tasks in the Oval Office was to order agencies to eliminate all positions related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Days later, he froze nearly all foreign aid and attempted to freeze federal grants.

The administration also last week made an offer to federal employees to resign by Thursday and get paid through September as part of its efforts to cut the federal workforce. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development closed its headquarters to employees Monday after Musk said Sunday that Trump agreed to shut down the agency. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he is now acting director of the humanitarian agency, confirming it has been folded into the State Department. 

USAID's office is in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, a federally owned property on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

On Jan. 24, Ehikian enacted an indefinite pause on all GSA acquisitions, including leases, indefinitely.

“This short-term pause will permit the new leadership to understand key acquisition actions, commitments, and approaches and help direct any needed course corrections,” a GSA memo to acquisitions staff says.

GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters said last week that the overall strategy for the GSA under the Trump administration is to rely on leased space over its owned portfolio, as it is expected to take an aggressive stance on offloading owned real estate. 

“The presumption is going to be that space should be leased, unless there's some factor that says it should be owned,” he said at last week’s Public Buildings Reform Board meeting

“There is excess within the leased portfolio, too, and we're in the process of evaluating and actioning against that,” he added.

About 52% of the federal government’s office portfolio has lease expirations or options to terminate by the end of 2028, according to a December analysis of GSA data by S&P Global Ratings. About 59% of that space is from expiring leases, while 18.5% is from leases with termination options.