USDA selling its flagship South Building in Washington, relocating staff

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is selling its flagship South Building office hub on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and relocating employees to other locations across the country by the end of the year, the agency said on Wednesday.

The move to vacate and sell the massive but aging building is part of a broader cost-cutting initiative at the department, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, citing high maintenance costs and low occupancy.

Thousands of USDA employees have taken buyouts and left the department over the past year amid Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's effort to reshape and reduce the size and footprint of the federal government.

"At one time, the South Building was the beating heart of USDA, alive with research and teeming with activity decades ago. But today, it is a shell of what it once was," Rollins said at a press conference outside the building on Wednesday.

The building will be turned over to the government's General Services Administration for sale, Rollins said as Iowa Senator Joni Ernst unveiled a "For Sale By Owner" sign.

The flagship USDA property, built in the U.S. capital in the 1930s, has $1.6 billion in delinquent maintenance costs while about 80% of its offices are vacant, GSA Administrator Edward Forst said.

The USDA has said it is planning to relocate much of its remaining staff in the U.S. capital to hubs in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and Utah.