Trump: Buddy, Can Ya Spare A Fed Bldg?

Before becoming No. 47, I enjoyed a Crown Royal with massive round ice ball at Trump’s DC Old Post Office Hotel. After becoming POTUS, he hopes to get it (and customers like me) back. In fact, Trump’s considering selling 2/3 of gov’t’s office stock to the private sector.

Go tell it to the mountain or read WSJ’s “The US Government Has a Landlord, and Trump Isn’t a Fan.” What a difference a few years can make, the article suggests, since our new president once praised the Government Services Administration for selecting his business operations over Hilton & Marriott to buy & flip the prime if not historic office space into a grand international hotel. But, since then, we’re told “Trump has soured on the GSA once he realized the federal government’s real-estate portfolio is flush with 370 million square feet of federal buildings nationwide, many sitting empty or underused (can you say “fed employees work at home”?) and/or deteriorating faster than Joe Biden’s brain.

As a result, don’t be surprised if a fire-sale will soon be in the works. The WSJ warns that that could be a double-edged sword in that maintenance savings will be HUGE, but many sales may reap “pennies on the dollar” from real estate sharks thinking they have the US over a barrel. There’s also concern over the financial impact on inner cities depending on satellite occupancies & businesses. On the other hand, Trump was after all a real estate guru before turning to politics and can be expected to cut deals that are a net benefit to Uncle Sam. No?

Davd Soul