Trump Administration Expedites Nashville Office Sale

A massive federal office complex in downtown Nashville is cleared for an expedited sale, after the Trump administration bypassed a key bureaucratic hurdle to bring the building straight to market.

The Office of Management and Budget last week approved the accelerated disposition of the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and Annex at 801 Broadway, the Nashville Business Journal reported.

The move means the General Services Administration can skip the usual first step of offering the building to local governments and nonprofits, which often adds 30 days or more to federal property sales. The building is among 11 federal properties across the country approved for direct sale, part of a nationwide downsizing effort.

The Kefauver building spans over 824,000 square feet across two mid-century structures, built in 1952, and occupies a prominent corner of downtown Nashville near the federal courthouse.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which leases nearly 100,000 square feet in the building, is seeking a 20-year lease in a Class A or B building elsewhere in the Nashville area.

The expedited sale was recommended by the Public Buildings Reform Board and greenlit under the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act. The move is part of a broader push to reduce the federal real estate footprint, according to the budget office. The 11 approved properties span 7 million square feet, and their sale is expected to save the United States government $5.4 million.

The GSA first announced plans to sell the building in November 2023; the approval streamlines the timeline significantly. A listing and open-market offering is expected in the coming months, pending any final administrative steps.

Elon Musk’s DOGE cut a number of GSA leases in the Nashville area earlier this year, namely the 135,000-square-foot IRS facility in Franklin. It then backpeddled on the IRS building offer in mid-April.

— Judah Duke