Already reeling from the pandemic and the work-from-home trend, the office market in downtown Chicago and across the metro area is facing another big hit as the federal government — which leases space in more than 100 buildings in the city and suburbs — has begun to terminate many of those deals.
As part of its efforts to curb what the new president and his aides describe as rampant waste, the Trump administration has set a goal to shut down half of the properties that the government owns and cancel half the leases with private property owners.
The General Services Administration, which manages buildings that the government owns and federal leases, pays landlords more than $91 million a year in rent for about 2.4 million square feet of office space in 112 properties across the Chicago area, according to Trepp Inc., a New York-based firm that analyzes commercial real estate finance industry data…