A 30-story skyscraper that houses several federal agencies in downtown Atlanta is the latest target of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting campaign.
The General Services Administration, which oversees the government’s real estate portfolio, listed the Peachtree Summit Federal Building among eight properties across the U.S. it identified for “accelerated disposition.” The Atlanta tower is the largest building included on the list, and its current tenants include offices for the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and GSA’s Southeast region.
The GSA in early March released a list of 443 properties it considered “noncore assets” that it aimed to sell, redevelop, convert or reposition, but the agency rescinded that list hours later to further evaluate its cost-cutting plans. The Peachtree Summit building was not on that initial list of “noncore assets.”
Now the downtown tower and its seven peers are on the GSA’s chopping block.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
“We are committed to partnering with interested stakeholders, including local jurisdictions, homeless assistance providers, the historic preservation community and our customer agencies to ensure their mission-critical needs are met,” the GSA said. “Going forward, we will post additional assets regularly.”
Located at 401 W. Peachtree St. NW near the Civic Center MARTA station, Peachtree Summit was completed in 1975, and its triangle-shaped facade stands out among Atlanta’s skyline. It includes nearly 804,000 square feet of leasable office space and is about 30% vacant, according to GSA data.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The eight buildings combine to a little more than 2 million square feet of workspace in seven states. Notably, none of them are in Washington, D.C. — the country’s largest cluster of federal offices. Many federal buildings in the nation’s capital city were included on the GSA’s original disposition list in early March before reevaluation.
A GSA spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they didn’t “have any additional information” when asked about Peachtree Summit’s inclusion on the list or the exclusion of properties featured on the initial GSA list. Instead, the spokesperson cited a frequently asked questions page the GSA posted regarding its updated strategy.
The agency said it has notified the agencies housed within the targeted buildings. Just because a building is listed doesn’t mean the agencies housed inside will have to relocate, the agency noted, saying that the government could sell the buildings with agencies remaining as paying tenants to future owners.
In addition, the page says the GSA has shifted to a more “incremental approach” when it comes to disposing of federal assets.
“Due to the overwhelming response that we received after publishing the first list (of 443 properties), we are refining our process,” the FAQ page said. The agency solicited interested parties to submit nonbinding term sheets for consideration.
GSA originally listed 17 Georgia properties for potential disposal, including downtown landmarks such as the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center and the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building.
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