2 federal offices in Pierce County are on DOGE lease termination list. Will they close?
At least two federal offices in Pierce County appear on the chopping block in the Department of Government Efficiency’s “Wall of Receipts.”
The offices, one in Tacoma and the other in Puyallup, are among proposed lease terminations involving hundreds of federal offices nationwide.
A statement from the government’s main real-estate oversight agency indicates some leases and office space reductions have not yet been settled.
DOGE list and local offices
The office of Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division, operating under the U.S. Department of Labor, is listed as a Tacoma federal office expected to see its lease terminated by Sept. 30.
The office enforces federal labor laws regarding wages, hours and working conditions, including minimum wage, overtime compensation and child-labor laws. The DOGE list included 20 such offices nationwide.
DOL’s official list of offices under its Wage and Hour Division only lists its Seattle district site, serving Washington state and Alaska.
The Department of Labor has a Google business listing of an office at the Tacoma Centre, 1145 Broadway, and a call that goes to a phone tree at its listed number identifies it as a WHD office. On Friday, a news release from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office listed the Tacoma WHD site as 949 Market St., and said the office is “mainly used by Department of Labor investigators who spend time conducting investigations in the field and use the office as a work station.”
A regional media representative for the Department of Labor directed questions from The News Tribune to the General Services Administration, which “exercises jurisdiction over federally managed buildings.”
GSA did not directly answer whether a Tacoma office lease had been terminated in its response.
The other local site on the DOGE lease termination list is the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Puyallup Service Center in the Puyallup Executive Park, 1011 E. Main Ave., Suite 306, expected to terminate Aug. 31.
The office works to promote conservation efforts by helping people reduce soil erosion, boost water supplies, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat and more. It also provides funding opportunities for farmers and landowners through its programs.
An auto-response email from that office’s district representative, which operates under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stated the representative was out of the office for the next few weeks.
A media representative for USDA later emailed a statement, attributable to “a USDA spokesperson” as follows:
“Secretary (Brooke) Rollins fully supports President Trump’s directive to eliminate wasteful spending and ensure taxpayer dollars are used effectively. USDA is optimizing building capacity and consolidating underutilized offices to reduce inefficiencies while continuing to prioritize frontline services for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.”
The email referred further questions on lease terminations to a general GSA media email, and did not specifically address what was happening to the office’s workers or where that work would be consolidated.
Another USDA-related office in the area, Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service in Olympia, is on the DOGE online list, as is a Forest Service office in Pomeroy.
The expected lease expiration dates were first reported by The Associated Press earlier this month based on GSA planning documents obtained by The AP.
Successful Farming, an online publication, reported March 14 that more than 100 USDA offices were listed for lease termination by DOGE, notably Natural Resources Conversation Service sites and Animal and Plant Health and Inspection Service offices, across 39 states and four territories.
The nationwide list includes 35 NRCS offices (including one in Renton and another in Dayton, Washington), and 18 APHIS offices.
If the Renton and Puyallup service centers close, that would reduce USDA’s Puget Sound region offices from four to two — one in Olympia and the other in Bremerton, based on information listed in an NRCS state office directory updated in January.
Before the DOGE list, there were 20 service centers statewide, according to the state directory.
A listing on the Loopnet online real estate site shows the Puyallup office already being marketed for lease available Sept. 1 and noting the space can accommodate “8 to 24 people.”
Figures from the state Department of Employment Security earlier this month showed USDA workers at the top of the jobless filings by agency list in the state, with 190 first-time claims filed by Washington state-based USDA workers at that time. No. 2 was Washington state workers with the Department of Interior with 116 initial claims.
What GSA says
A GSA agency representative responded to The News Tribune’s questions with a prepared statement, also attributed to “a GSA spokesperson,” sent via email:
“GSA is reviewing all options to optimize the federal footprint and building utilization,” the statement read. “We are actively managing lease contracts by leveraging existing contract cancellation rights. As leases enter their soft term, we are sending letters of intent to customer agencies to inform them GSA is considering lease termination (thereby exercising GSA’s contractual rights as agreed upon with our lessors).”
The statement added, ”Actively managing leases gives GSA the opportunity to work closely with our partner agencies on their evolving and longer term needs and will often allow us to enhance space utilization and secure better terms for the government – including better pricing.”
The GSA response did not directly answer whether the lease terminations would proceed and also did not address questions about what’s happening to the Puyallup and Tacoma offices in terms of relocations and workforce.
“In instances where the current space remains the most suitable option — whether temporarily or longer term — we are adjusting our approach. For these agencies, we are either rescinding termination notices or, in some cases, not issuing them at all,” the response stated.
“These contractual cancellation rights are in accordance with regular and well-accepted private industry contracting processes. GSA’s letters of intent to terminate have no immediate effect and do not mean the lease has been terminated.”
Others on DOGE list
Several other offices in the state are also noted on the DOGE list. They include a Geological Survey Office in Spokane Valley, Drug Enforcement Administration office in Yakima, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in Port Angeles, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Olympia, Small Business Administration and Government Accountability offices in Seattle, Employment Standards Administration Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs in Richland and Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Toppenish.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
