USDA to give up massive DC office building as shift of staff to states begins
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, speaking at a Future Farmers of America event Aug. 18, 2025 at the Tennessee State Fair. Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
The Department of Agriculture South Building at 1400 Independence Ave. SW in Washington, D.C., was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury and built between 1930 and 1936. (Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will transfer a large office building to the General Services Administration in a step toward shrinking the department’s footprint in and around Washington, D.C., Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday.
More than 70% of offices at the USDA’s South Building, in Washington, sit empty on any given day, while deferred maintenance costs have piled up past $1 billion, …
