Trump administration puts several major Chicago federal buildings up for sale
Two iconic high-rise buildings in the Loop are up for sale on Tuesday: the Metcalfe and Kluczynski Federal Buildings.
The Trump administration, in its bid to drastically cut government spending and shrink it, put up for sale signs on some of federal government’s biggest and most iconic buildings in Chicago Tuesday.
General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal real estate, has released a list online of 443 properties that are “non-core”. Two Loop high-rises are included on the list: The Metcalfe and Kluczynski Federal Buildings.
According to the GSA’s website, the U.S. Post Office Loop Station at Federal Plaza as well as the regional office of the Social Security Administration are also on the list.
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The GSA is willing to sell eleven properties in Chicago. The largest of these is the Kluczynski building, located at 230 S. Dearborn St. It has over 1.1 million square foot of office space. Kluczynski’s tenants include the Department of Labor and the Drug Enforcement Administration. They also include the Internal Revenue Service and the GSA.
The GSA stated on its website that it was identifying non-core buildings and properties, as well as those not essential to government operations.
Selling ensures taxpayer dollars are not spent on underutilized or vacant federal spaces. The disposal of these assets allows us to reduce maintenance costs and reinvest into high-quality environments that support the agency’s missions.
WBEZ’s request for a comment was not immediately answered by a spokesperson from the GSA Great Lakes Office in Chicago.
The GSA reduced its list of “non core” properties to 320 from 443 on Tuesday night. However, all 11 properties that were originally marked as for sale in Chicago remained in their online database.
The Trump administration set out to sell half of federal buildings and end half of leases of offices that are used by federal agencies throughout the United States. The Trump administration has not stated what will happen to federal employees or offices operating in these buildings.
WBEZ reported on Monday that GSA was moving to cancel leases of about 30 of 112 private properties rented by the federal government in the Chicago region, including an older furniture warehouse in northwest suburbs, where the National Archives stored and digitized the presidential papers from Barack Obama’s Administration.
Elon Musk, a Trump ally, boasts that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will save taxpayers $1.4 million per year by ending the deal. However, GSA records reveal that the deal on the building in Hoffman Estates on Golf Road was expected to expire on December 31, as the Obama Presidential Library is going digital.
The Trump administration wants to reduce federal employee numbers and eliminate certain U.S. government departments.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), who boycotted Trump’s address at a joint session on congress, Tuesday, strongly criticised the decision to shut so many large federal building.
Quigley stated that “it makes sense at times to right-size, but this is not the way to go about it” – without much thought, analysis or study.
He said that the closing of important government offices will have a negative effect on the taxpayers, and raises questions about where federal workers will do their jobs.
Quigley noted that the Chicago closures would also impact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Quigley attacked DOGE and claimed that it was a sham, claiming the real goal was to protect the ultra-wealthy Musk by decimating the agencies investigating his business.
The congressman stated that “it’s not corruption, it’s cost-cutting.”
Dirksen U.S. Courthouse at 219 S. Dearborn is notable for its absence from the list. The Courthouse is located at 219 S. Dearborn. The plan proposed by GSA, however, would eliminate much of the complex consisting of government offices that have been clustered around Federal Plaza for decades. This area has become a popular place for protests in recent years against Trump’s and Musk’s cutsbacks.
The Kluszynski Federal Building, a 45-story building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1974, was constructed.
The Metcalfe Federal Building, located at 77 W. Jackson Boulevard, is 28 stories high. The Metcalfe Federal Building was constructed in 1991 in a similar style to the Kluszynski Federal Building. It is the second largest of the Illinois government properties that the Trump Administration has decided are surplus.
According to the GSA’s website, “key tenants” of the Metcalfe Federal Building include the EPA and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.
The Metcalfe Federal Building, which is on the recently disclosed list of buildings for sale in Illinois, is just a little bit bigger than the Harold Washington Social Security Center. This structure occupies an entire city block at 600 W. Madison St. in the West Loop.
The 12-story U.S. Customhouse at 610 S. Canal St., which was built in 1932, is also for sale.
The GSA is also looking to sell three other buildings, located in East St. Louis and Quincy, Illinois.
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