Oklahoma City Federal Building could be sold as Trump administration works to cut ‘non-core’ assets

OKLAHOMA CITY — With about a month left before the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P.  Murrah Federal Building, the Trump administration has designated the facility that replaced it as one of hundreds of “non-core” federal government assets slated to be “disposed” of.

This is the only Oklahoma property identified by the U.S. General Services Administration on a list of 443 properties and assets released Tuesday as “not core to government operations.” The GSA said selling these properties could save $430 million in annual operating costs and “ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces.”

The building, opened in 2005, replaced the Murrah building which was destroyed in a bombing on April 19, 1995.

The potential sale comes as the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk, seeks to eliminate government waste cuts from the U.S. federal government. The GSA, which manages real estate for the federal government, currently “leads” government agencies in eliminating waste, according to the DOGE website.

It was unclear Tuesday where the employees currently working from the four-story, nearly 167,000 square foot federal building would be housed if the building was sold.

More than 350 employees work out of the federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. Some agencies located in the building include the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Small Business Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Military Entrance Processing Station, and recruiting offices for various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The building, located at 301 NW 6th St., is in the districts of Rep. Forrest Bennett and Sen. Mark Mann, both Democrats from Oklahoma City.

“I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but here is what I do know: the federal building downtown was built specifically to be a safe but accessible building for critical federal workers delivering services to the people of Oklahoma,” Bennett said. “I also know that the Trump Administration’s DOGE efforts have proven to be reckless. Their reports of cost savings have proven to be inaccurate — at one point suggesting that they had found $8 billion in savings when in fact it was $8 million, for example — and the unilateral nature of their firings and closures are legally questionable at best.”

Mann called on Oklahoma’s federal delegation to say “enough is enough” and said the decision was shocking and tone deaf to announce this on the heels of the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

“The services that are provided through the agencies that are housed there to Oklahomans are valuable,” he said. “The services they provide to the region and the nation through that building are valuable, and just to randomly come out of nowhere and say it’s a non-core asset and we’re going to sell it is one of the most asinine things I’ve ever seen … I think this building sent a message that we’re not going to allow terrorism to affect how we do business. I thought it was a good message to send, then I think it’s still a good message. And so, to do this on the heels of the memorial next month, I think is tone deaf and insensitive.”

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said Tuesday he was unaware of this designation and declined to comment further.

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