TAMPA — Government efficiency, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, aims to eliminate Tampa’s building space occupying by the US law firm in the Central Florida area, according to a list posted on the federal government’s cost-cutting agency website.
Downtown’s offices prosecuting federal crimes in judicial districts, including the Tampa Bay Area, occupies the sixth floor of the Park Tower Building, 400 N. Tampa Street.
Much remains unknown regarding the plans for the office agency. The management of US lawyers seems to know little about the move to Ax leased property.
However, the agency’s website, known as Doge, suggests that they are one of over 700 properties where the lease has ended.
The White House press office and the U.S. Lawyer’s office in Tampa each referred questions on the issue to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. Efforts to reach Amy Gleason, which the White House identified as Doge administrator, were not successful on Tuesday.
In an internal email obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, US lawyers manager Jeffrey Hahn wrote to Tampa staff that management had not been told anything about the lease being cancelled.
“Please know that you have not received any information regarding these alleged lease terminations,” Hahn writes. “If we receive this kind of information, we will continue to work with transparency and continue to provide you with information.”
Doge is an ad-hoc government agency created through an executive order by President Donald Trump. The agency aims to eliminate what leaders consider government waste, reduce national debt and improve efficiency by reducing spending. The department claims it has cut its spending in $105 billion so far.
Many of the department’s moves, including massive layoffs for some federal workers, have produced pushbacks. Critics raised concerns about Doge’s lack of access and transparency to sensitive government data. Some have questioned the constitutionality of the institution.
The Doge website has a long list of properties leased by various departments of the federal government. This suggests that more than 700 listed leases have ended.
The U.S. Lawyer’s Office in Tampa is buried deep inside the list. It accounts for 108,007 square feet of space and $2.7 million per year lease costs, according to the website. It is unknown when the lease is set to expire.
More than 100 federal prosecutors and support staff work in the Park Tower Building. The location is several blocks away from the US District Court, where attorneys from the firm are suing the case.
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The Tampa location is one of five offices that live federal prosecutors throughout the Central District, ranging from Jacksonville to Naples. Other locations include Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Ocala and Orlando.
Only Tampa and Ocala offices operate from leased spaces. The other three offices designate spaces within their respective local federal courts.
The Ocala office is also on the Doge list. According to the Doge website, the location occupying 8,542 square feet of space, with an annual lease of over $200,000.
The office is one of several federal properties in Florida and is clearly targeting closures.
Last week, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that two Tampa properties, the RL Timberlake Jr. Federal Builder and the Timberlake Federal Annex, were listed on the government website for potential sales. The building houses local offices for federal agencies, including the Social Security Agency. That list, posted on the General Services Bureau’s website, was later removed.
It is unclear how the prosecutors who work there will continue to work if the office lease of a US lawyer actually ends. One of the first acts in Trump’s second presidential term included an order to allow all remote federal workers to return to their offices.
Bobby O’Neill, a US lawyer for the Central District of Florida from 2010 to 2013, told The Times that federal prosecutors need to hold their offices in Tampa.
“I think they’re looking at the total area,” he said. “We can’t completely remove office space.”
O’Neill said that every day of the office’s prosecutors worked there when they were US lawyers. He pointed out that downtown Tampa property is expensive and there may be cheaper options. However, he said he doesn’t think it would be practical for prosecutors to work remotely. If an office closes, another office must be opened.
“You need to have an office. There’s no doubt,” O’Neill said. “If not, they need to be somewhere.”
