Empty federal office costs taxpayers

Agusta Chronicle ^ | 6-22-2014 | Wesley Brown

[Citizen Zed]

The nearly 19,000-square-foot office building at 1058 Claussen Road in west Au­gus­ta has been vacant since April, but it still costs taxpayers $39,679 a month in rent and will probably keep doing so for the next seven years.

At the Claussen Road building, the government spent $644,851 to specially “upfit” it to house the Social Security Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.

Richmond County building permits show that service windows, separation walls, above-ceiling electrical and new plumbing were added to help the agency hold hearings, issue decisions and review appeals on benefits.

Those costs were added to the lease, and for the next seven years, the government must pay $92,866 annually above the cost of rent for the renovations.

In March, the Government Ac­coun­tability Office published a report that reviewed property management practices within the GSA, one of four agencies that rank in the top 10 in federal real estate holdings.

The report revealed that, as with the Claussen Road building, which has a taxable value of $468,699, the federal government often spends more money on renovations and multiyear leases than on outright property purchases.

For example, the report found that the GSA could have bought a State Depart­ment building in Washington for $100 million in 1992, but instead rented it for 20 years, renovated it and then purchased it in 2012 for $258 million.

Other examples of waste cited by the GAO since 2003 include a Commerce Depart­ment building in Alexandria, Va., that costs $60 million annually to rent and a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau facility in Washington where $95 million will be spent for renovations.

[Citizen Zed]

But are the buildings green?

[Carriage Hill]

But is it acceptable for 3,000 illegal aliens’ housing? Let’s spend another $1mm to make it “illegal-alien-friendly”.

[mountainlion]

Empty bureaucrat brains cost taxpayers more.

[KarlInOhio]

If you think they're expensive empty just consider how much more expensive they would be filled up with federal bureaucrats.

[blueunicorn6]

I go to WalMart and buy picture frames for five bucks each and sell them to the government as solar panels for $1,000 a pop. You ought to see how many portable basketball goals I sell them for wind turbines at $500,000 each. All they ask is that “A little taste of that money go to the Democrat Party.”

[spokeshave]

Not to worry....Mr Blum will get the contract to sell them all...

Sen. Feinstein's husband to cash in selling old post offices www.washingtontimes.com

The Washington Times

Jun 12, 2013 - Dianne Feinstein, is cashing in on a new federal crisis. ...Blum is selling off old post offices under an exclusive contract with the ... And the Postal Service says the decision to sell the buildings, some of .... Postal Service says worker was stealing packages from midtown post office.

Ha.... Blum thinks we all dumb

[Carriage Hill]

Pump-in some cement to those empty skulls!