To cut costs, government efficiency has ended leases nationwide, including a Florida office that has hundreds of federal workers focused on repairing Everglades and maintaining beaches throughout the state.
The federal government has finished leasing the US Army Corps of Engineers office at its headquarters in Jacksonville district of Jacksonville, with about 800 of its approximately 800 Florida-based employees living there.
Michelle Roberts, the district’s chief of corporate communications, confirmed that the Jacksonville office is aware of a letter sent to the Government Services Office Bradford Afford Afford, which was sent to the company that owns the building.
The letter outlined the Trump administration’s desire to break the lease earlier in August, rather than wait until it ends in 2027. She said last week. A representative from Bradford Allen said the company had not commented on the move, but it came from a controversial cost-cutting overhaul led by billionaire Elon Musk.
“We know that the letter has been delivered by the GSA, and that’s all for now,” Roberts said. “We are waiting for a certain direction to get through the right channel.”
The move to close the Corps’ Florida headquarters comes amid a simultaneous federal push to bring all remote workers back to offices. Dozens of federal employees near the Jacksonville office were already trying to work directly in large offices to comply with the new directive.
The Legion’s biggest job in Florida is restoring the Everglades, the world’s largest environmental restoration project, the ongoing multi-billion dollar effort. But the agency is also handling everything from adding new sand to thin beaches, regulating development along with rivers and bays.
Doge’s website says breaking the $4.3 million lease is a total taxpayer savings of $9.3 million. According to the government website, it represents the largest chunk of over $12 million in leases that ended in Florida alone. It doesn’t explain where the hundreds of employees overseeing the Everglades project will function.
According to the website, the Army Corps office leases have ended in Charleston, South Carolina, Mobile, California and Illinois.
The lease ends for other Musk teams listed include Hollywood’s Indian Affairs Bureau, the US Lawyer’s Office in Tampa, and the South Florida Ecosystem Office for the Everglades National Park building in Homestead, which houses scientists working on restoration of the Everglades.
Homestead’s ecosystem office is just one of dozens of buildings seen in the Trump administration’s cancellation of early leases. The National Park Conservation Association released a leaked spreadsheet on Monday.
Spend your days with Hayes
Subscribe to our free Stephenly newsletter
Columnist Stephanie Hayes shares thoughts, feelings and funny business with you every Monday.
You’re all signed up!
Want more free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Check out all options
This list includes Florida that has not yet appeared on the Doge website at the Robert Johnson Building in Tallahassee. Office space at Florida State University is home to the National Park Service’s Southeast Archaeology Center. According to the NPS website, there are over 8 million artifacts.
Cara Capp, associate director of the NPCA’s Greater Everglades, said these cuts “can cause havoc in the national parks.”
“These civil servants are on the forefront of Florida, helping us keep our nation safe, keep our Everglades healthy and our economy strong,” she said in a statement. “We can invest billions of dollars at the state and federal levels, but without Park Services and Army Corps, restoration of the Everglades is just a dream, not a reality. And we are all less safe.”
