Minnesotans working for federal agencies leasing space in the state may soon find themselves searching for new office space. Fourteen different offices including multiple National Park Service locations, local branches of the Internal Revenue Service in Bloomington and St. Cloud, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration offices in Hibbing may be in search of new leases due to cost-cutting measures from the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump administration initiative tasked with reducing federal spending.
But it isn’t clear how many of DOGE and General Service Administration’s planned lease terminations are actually underway. DOGE’s own accounting of their grant, contract and lease cuts has taken multiple error-filled forms since the department formed in late January following Trump’s inauguration. And none of the current lease termination notices in Minnesota or the rest of the country appears to be backed up with any secondary documentation.
MinnPost reached out to representatives from multiple city governments and private companies that lease space to various federal agencies. Among the representatives reached, most declined comment or had not received information about the proposed cuts other than DOGE’s website listing.
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}}))}();Led by billionaire investor Elon Musk, DOGE has listed 14 federal lease cuts for offices within Minnesota on the “Savings” page of its website in the past weeks. The information is displayed alongside tables of federal grants and contracts the department has either cut or plans to end.
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}}))}();Maintaining federal leases and real estate is a responsibility of the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service. In a statement the GSA published on March 4, the administration announced the lease terminations and property sales were in compliance with a recent Trump administration executive order requiring the GSA to identify and list all “non-essential” leases within 30 days of its issuance.
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}}))}();In a separate statement released the next day, the GSA wrote that they were “exploring innovative approaches — including public-private partnerships, ground leases, sale leasebacks, and interagency co-working agreements — to optimize our real property portfolio in support of the administration’s EO. These actions will result in increased service quality to our customers and savings to the American taxpayer.”
MinnPost’s attempts to find out more details about the lease cuts and their impact at the local level were met by government officials who declined to comment on the record and no evidence that the cuts were already in the works. For example, a Minneapolis city spokesperson told MinnPost the city “has not received any communications from DOGE” concerning federal office leases set to end for the Minneapolis branches of the Wage and Hours Division and the Office of Compliance of the Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration, though both offices are listed on the DOGE “savings” table of lease cuts. These Department of Labor offices currently lease space at the privately owned Tri-Tech building at 331 2nd Ave. S., whose property management company did not respond to a request for comment from MinnPost.
Representatives from multiple offices of the National Park Service also stated that they had not received any communications from DOGE or the GSA related to planned office lease terminations at the Science Museum of Minnesota and Kellogg Square in Saint Paul and at Voyageur’s National Park in Crane Lake. Kellog-Bigos LLC, the company that owns the building at Kellogg Square and leasing space to the GSA, did not return MinnPost’s messages seeking comment on the planned lease terminations.
Two Internal Revenue Service Taxpayer Assistance Centers in the state are also listed among DOGE’s planned GSA lease terminations as the agency also faces substantial layoffs and budget cuts. IRS representatives also declined to comment on the leases. These two offices are situated within the Falcon National Bank building at 1010 West Germain St. in St. Cloud and the BLOC office and residential building at 1550 American Boulevard East in Bloomington. Representatives from Falcon National Bank and Hempel Real Estate, the firm that owns the BLOC building in Bloomington, also did not get back to MinnPost when approached for comment. Similarly, multiple representatives from the Mine Health and Safety Administration were unable to comment on the planned office lease termination at their Hibbing location.
It is unclear what will happen to these office spaces or the federal employees and contractors currently working for the agencies that are renting them. While it’s possible that DOGE’s list of planned lease terminations and federal real estate sales will grow in the coming months, it’s also unclear what the department’s timelines or requirements are for finding new office space. The GSA stated in its March 5 press release that “just because an asset is on the list doesn’t mean it’s immediately for sale. However, we will consider compelling offers (in accordance with applicable laws and regulations) and do what’s best for the needs of the federal government and taxpayer. Since publishing the initial list on March 4, 2025, we have received an overwhelming amount of interest.”
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