JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There’s uncertainty surrounding whether office leases for certain government agencies in our area are being terminated or kept.
According to the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE’s website, six leases for government buildings in our area are listed as canceled as of Thursday afternoon.
However, one agency told News4JAX after getting a lease cancellation notification last week, they received a follow-up message saying that’s no longer the case.
News4JAX obtained a letter that was sent to the leasing agent of the Army Corps of Engineers office building in Jacksonville letting them know the earlier letter calling to terminate the lease no longer stands.
But the Army Corps says it is still waiting to hear back to see if that’s true.
The letter the leasing agent for the building received last week from the government agency General Services Administration (GSA) let them know the government is revoking its “prior notice” to terminate the Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville office lease.
That letter was shared with News4JAX by Michelle Roberts of the Army Corps.
Roberts said although the letter said it overturns the termination, she’s still waiting to hear back from GSA personally to make sure it’s official.
And since there’s uncertainty surrounding whether DOGE is cancelling that lease, News4JAX reached out to the other agencies in our area that were listed on the DOGE website lease terminations list.
This includes the Social Security Administration in Brunswick, and Jacksonville-based agencies Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), the Railroad Retirement Board, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Also on the list is the Defense Contract Management Agency at Northrop Grumman in St. Augustine.
Neither DCSA or Wildlife Service responded to News4JAX, but both of the offices are empty.
The railroad retirement board told News4JAX, in part:
“General Services Administration (GSA) has informed the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) that they have terminated the lease in Jacksonville. The RRB is actively working with GSA to identify a resolution to maintain a public-facing office presence for the local railroad community.”
When News4JAX tried to get answers on the Northrop Grumman lease, we were directed to two different agencies and neither answered.
As for the Social Security lease a spokesperson sent a response, saying in part:
“We are working with GSA to review our leases and ensure they are used efficiently. Most of the leases we are not renewing are for small remote hearing sites that are co-located with other Federal space.”
We asked each agency if their leases are terminated, if it would affect employment for people in the area.
The Army Corps is the only one that responded.
“The building lease is completely separate from any personnel actions. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did send a Reduction In Force (RIF) planning document out to all federal agencies, and that process is ongoing. To date, we have not been notified to release any personnel,” it said in a statement.