January 21, 2025 • 9 mins
Chris breaks down the inefficiencies of federal real estate, highlighting underutilized government buildings and unnecessary leasing practices. With eye-opening stats, he calls for selling off taxpayer-funded properties and reducing waste. From empty office spaces to the history of Mar-a-Lago, he exposes the absurdity of current systems and advocates for smarter use of resources. Don’t miss his fiery critique of DC’s real estate mess. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sell it, sell it all. That was a bit of
a scene a movie, margin call my favorite financial movie.
And at that point time they were talking about selling
off their distressed real estate portfolio, asset portfolio, mortgage backed
securities back in two thousand and eight. Sell it all.
(00:38):
Sell all of this government. I call government real estate,
taxpayer real estate. You see all of us here we own.
We own a lot of real estate. We own a
lot of real estate around the country that continues to
depreciate day after day after day, real estate that we
(01:00):
have to spend money on to keep up. For no
reason whatsoever, Donald Trump has ordered ordered all federal employees
to in person work. God bless them. You do realize
that that six percent of federal workers show up in person.
(01:23):
Not a single government agency is occupying even half of
their office space. Let me put this in a perspective. Okay,
people have been to Washington, d C. I gotta go
back there again. Yeah, my son's got a game against Georgetown.
(01:44):
But anyway, here are some massive buildings in d C.
The Forrestall Building, Department of Energy over million square feet.
If it was at full capacity, you could have four
(02:04):
eight and thirty eight workers there. The average occupancy. This
is the Department of Energy that doesn't create any energy.
Remember Jennifer grand Home with their little tour around the country.
There has the other little workers falling around, not letting
the ordinary Americans charge their vehicles. Eight people, eight people,
(02:32):
and again it's a second agency for global media. Whatever
the hell that is? What over seven hundred thousand square
feet estimated capacity three four and thirty one people, seventy
two people, average occupancy. Department of Agriculture. Yeah, yeah, because
(02:55):
they grow a lot of stuff there in Washington, DC.
One point five million square feet capacity of seventy four hundred,
average occupancy four hundred and fifty six people. Veterans Affairs.
Veterans Affairs four hundred and eighty thousand square feet capacity
(03:19):
twenty four hundred daily, one hundred and seventy two, one
hundred and seventy two on any given day. Well, we'll
go with the EPA. EPA four hundred and seventy eight thousand,
twenty three one hundred occupancy, about one hundred and ninety
five people a day. I can go on, and I
(03:41):
can go on. I can go on. That's amazing to me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Just the.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
What a sin this is, how wasteful it is. What
could these buildings actually be used for? Take a look
at the homeless problem. We have in this a million
different things, but quite frankly, sell it all. The group
in charge of this, the General Services Administration. They're the
(04:13):
federal agency that owns, manages, and leases much of the
government's real estate. They were the ones that actually allowed
Trump to take over the old post office, which he
turned into the hotel and then flipped it. And he
made a fortune on their portfolio of federal buildings three
(04:36):
hundred and seventy million square feet nationwide. Many of them
have been poorly maintained, they say, due to lack of
funding or sitting empty or underused. Trump is considering selling
two thirds of the federal government's office stock to the
(04:56):
private sector. Sell it. Three quarters of the seventy million
square feet of office space that the GSA leases from
private landlords in DC is also to be canceled. We
have all of this empty office space, but we're leasing
space as well. Why does that happen? Why do you
(05:18):
think that happens? Oh yeah, yeah, donors real estate developers
in the DC area, buy up building. Our building is fancier.
Oh I wrote you a check. Oh lease my building
for me. Keep my bullshit real estate portfolio afloat. Who
do we got in the Wall Street Journal article? Yes,
(05:41):
democratic real estate developer Don Peoples. Yeah, a long time Washington,
DC based developer. I hope you get wiped out. I
hope you get wiped out. Oh he's worried. Oh. A
sharp rise in GSA cancel leases would pressure DC landlords,
(06:03):
many of which count on the GSA as an anchor tenant.
Why why are we renting office space when we already
have office space? Blow them up? Sell Mortimer Sell, a
GSA spokeswoman, said, GSA continues to work to right size
(06:27):
the federal portfolio. What right size? We're committed to optimizing
space and federal buildings. You've got office buildings with eleven
people showing up that are over a million square feet.
The GSA has also been working to reduce the real
(06:47):
estate it owns, as more of its buildings deteriorate from
a lack of maintenance. Hey, hey, listen, knock them down,
plant trees. I don't care many you knock down these old,
ugly government asked buildings. I got some sort of socialist
(07:07):
knock them down and plant trees. There you go. You
want to suck up some co two leftists? Knock them down.
Oh here here's People's once again. Much of what it
can sell, people said, will likely be at fire sale
prices that could drag down the worth of other DC
office buildings, which have already plunged in value in recent years.
(07:30):
I don't care. Done about your bullshit real estate portfolio
that you guys keep afloat with other bullshit. Okay, sell
them all buildings will sell for thirty cents on the dollar.
Good good, Oh, I don't care. It will be awesome, awesome.
(07:55):
Want a funny story as well? Mar A Lago? Yeah,
mar Alago? You know it's let's let's talk about mar
A Lago, shall we? Donald Trump? Donald Trump took over
mar Alago. Do you know that that that government, the GSA,
had it. The Post family from Post Serials gave it
(08:18):
to the government. The government couldn't run it properly. So
Trump bought it for from them out of fire sale. Genius. Genius.
This's this one, Okay. The GSA building regional headquarters in
a lot plaza, a million square foot office building, is
(08:39):
the largest property the GSA is looking to shed. It's
been empty since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It needs extensive renovations that would cost one hundred and
eighty five million dollars. Sell it, sell it all, and
this would be fantastic. Getting government it down thee oh god, yeah,
get rid of the swamp, all else, all sorts of
good stuff happening, keeping my fingers crossed. Watchdog on Wall
(09:10):
Street dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sell it, sell it all. That was a bit of
a scene a movie, margin call my favorite financial movie.
And at that point time they were talking about selling
off their distressed real estate portfolio, asset portfolio, mortgage backed
securities back in two thousand and eight. Sell it all.
(00:38):
Sell all of this government. I call government real estate,
taxpayer real estate. You see all of us here we own.
We own a lot of real estate. We own a
lot of real estate around the country that continues to
depreciate day after day after day, real estate that we
(01:00):
have to spend money on to keep up. For no
reason whatsoever, Donald Trump has ordered ordered all federal employees
to in person work. God bless them. You do realize
that that six percent of federal workers show up in person.
(01:23):
Not a single government agency is occupying even half of
their office space. Let me put this in a perspective. Okay,
people have been to Washington, d C. I gotta go
back there again. Yeah, my son's got a game against Georgetown.
(01:44):
But anyway, here are some massive buildings in d C.
The Forrestall Building, Department of Energy over million square feet.
If it was at full capacity, you could have four
(02:04):
eight and thirty eight workers there. The average occupancy. This
is the Department of Energy that doesn't create any energy.
Remember Jennifer grand Home with their little tour around the country.
There has the other little workers falling around, not letting
the ordinary Americans charge their vehicles. Eight people, eight people,
(02:32):
and again it's a second agency for global media. Whatever
the hell that is? What over seven hundred thousand square
feet estimated capacity three four and thirty one people, seventy
two people, average occupancy. Department of Agriculture. Yeah, yeah, because
(02:55):
they grow a lot of stuff there in Washington, DC.
One point five million square feet capacity of seventy four hundred,
average occupancy four hundred and fifty six people. Veterans Affairs.
Veterans Affairs four hundred and eighty thousand square feet capacity
(03:19):
twenty four hundred daily, one hundred and seventy two, one
hundred and seventy two on any given day. Well, we'll
go with the EPA. EPA four hundred and seventy eight thousand,
twenty three one hundred occupancy, about one hundred and ninety
five people a day. I can go on, and I
(03:41):
can go on. I can go on. That's amazing to me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Just the.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
What a sin this is, how wasteful it is. What
could these buildings actually be used for? Take a look
at the homeless problem. We have in this a million
different things, but quite frankly, sell it all. The group
in charge of this, the General Services Administration. They're the
(04:13):
federal agency that owns, manages, and leases much of the
government's real estate. They were the ones that actually allowed
Trump to take over the old post office, which he
turned into the hotel and then flipped it. And he
made a fortune on their portfolio of federal buildings three
(04:36):
hundred and seventy million square feet nationwide. Many of them
have been poorly maintained, they say, due to lack of
funding or sitting empty or underused. Trump is considering selling
two thirds of the federal government's office stock to the
(04:56):
private sector. Sell it. Three quarters of the seventy million
square feet of office space that the GSA leases from
private landlords in DC is also to be canceled. We
have all of this empty office space, but we're leasing
space as well. Why does that happen? Why do you
(05:18):
think that happens? Oh yeah, yeah, donors real estate developers
in the DC area, buy up building. Our building is fancier.
Oh I wrote you a check. Oh lease my building
for me. Keep my bullshit real estate portfolio afloat. Who
do we got in the Wall Street Journal article? Yes,
(05:41):
democratic real estate developer Don Peoples. Yeah, a long time Washington,
DC based developer. I hope you get wiped out. I
hope you get wiped out. Oh he's worried. Oh. A
sharp rise in GSA cancel leases would pressure DC landlords,
(06:03):
many of which count on the GSA as an anchor tenant.
Why why are we renting office space when we already
have office space? Blow them up? Sell Mortimer Sell, a
GSA spokeswoman, said, GSA continues to work to right size
(06:27):
the federal portfolio. What right size? We're committed to optimizing
space and federal buildings. You've got office buildings with eleven
people showing up that are over a million square feet.
The GSA has also been working to reduce the real
(06:47):
estate it owns, as more of its buildings deteriorate from
a lack of maintenance. Hey, hey, listen, knock them down,
plant trees. I don't care many you knock down these old,
ugly government asked buildings. I got some sort of socialist
(07:07):
knock them down and plant trees. There you go. You
want to suck up some co two leftists? Knock them down.
Oh here here's People's once again. Much of what it
can sell, people said, will likely be at fire sale
prices that could drag down the worth of other DC
office buildings, which have already plunged in value in recent years.
(07:30):
I don't care. Done about your bullshit real estate portfolio
that you guys keep afloat with other bullshit. Okay, sell
them all buildings will sell for thirty cents on the dollar.
Good good, Oh, I don't care. It will be awesome, awesome.
(07:55):
Want a funny story as well? Mar A Lago? Yeah,
mar Alago? You know it's let's let's talk about mar
A Lago, shall we? Donald Trump? Donald Trump took over
mar Alago. Do you know that that that government, the GSA,
had it. The Post family from Post Serials gave it
(08:18):
to the government. The government couldn't run it properly. So
Trump bought it for from them out of fire sale. Genius. Genius.
This's this one, Okay. The GSA building regional headquarters in
a lot plaza, a million square foot office building, is
(08:39):
the largest property the GSA is looking to shed. It's
been empty since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It needs extensive renovations that would cost one hundred and
eighty five million dollars. Sell it, sell it all, and
this would be fantastic. Getting government it down thee oh god, yeah,
get rid of the swamp, all else, all sorts of
good stuff happening, keeping my fingers crossed. Watchdog on Wall
(09:10):
Street dot com
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