Washington Prospers While America Suffers

Unemployment in the heartland may be high and incomes may be stagnating in most of the nation, but Washington, DC, continues to be an oasis of prosperity as more of the nation's resources get consumed by government. The lastest evidence comes from the Washington Post, which reports on the federal government's insatiable demand for more real estate.

Evidence of the federal government's growing influence on Washington area commercial real estate is illustrated in big deals it is working on both sides of the table: auctioning a 127,000-square-foot Bethesda building previously occupied by the National Institutes of Health and moving to snatch up vast spaces in buildings on the private market that have been vacant for months. The General Services Administration is seeking to unload the 10-story building that the NIH vacated in 2002 when it consolidated offices into other buildings in Bethesda. The recommended opening bid for the online auction, which runs from April 30 to July 2, is $14 million. At the same time, federal leasing activity is expanding, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate firm representing the government. The government signed deals for 750,000 square feet of space in the District in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 670,000 square feet in the city for all of 2009.

It's hard to pick out the most depressing part of the article. Signing leases for more space in the first quarter of 2010 than in all of 2009 might be at the top of the list. That is presumably a good (and discouraging) measure of the growth of government. But for those who enjoy reading about incompetence and inefficiency, the government's eight-year (and counting) project to sell one office building may be at the top of the pile.

The GSA decided to sell the 46-year-old former NIH building at 7550 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda eight years ago. "We have a process we have to go through before we sell a building. We have to offer it to homeless housing, to local government," said Bob Peck, commissioner for the GSA's Public Buildings Service.

More discouraging factoids include a six-figure increase in the number of bureaucrats (just in the DC area), and the fact that the government is going to squander huge amounts of money on green rennovations, which will require taxpayers to cough up lots of money for the contractors doing the work and for five-year leases (which probably means ten, knowing the sloth-like pace of government work) so the bureaucrats can be housed elsewhere during the work.

Expansion of the government's role in the nation's financial markets, increased defense spending and the new health-care law are driving its demand for more space. The government is expected to increase its Washington area payroll by as many as 100,000, according to Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that helps the federal government find workers. "The government spent 2009 planning for the growth. We're going to see the growth materialize in 2010," said Scott Homa, research manager for Jones Lang LaSalle. The government also is overhauling many of its buildings, making them energy efficient. As a result, several agencies will need to lease space in the commercial market for five years or so during renovations.