U.S. government reaches agreements to sell Liberty Loan and 7th & D federal office buildings

Two Southwest D.C. properties move into contract status amid federal efforts to reduce office holdings

The U.S. government has reached agreements to sell two large office properties in Southwest Washington, D.C., advancing a broader effort to shrink the federal real estate footprint and limit maintenance liabilities tied to older, underutilized buildings.

The two properties are the Liberty Loan Building at 401 14th Street SW and the 7th & D Federal Office Building at 301 7th Street SW. Both are listed as being under contract as part of an accelerated disposition process administered by the General Services Administration (GSA).

What is being sold

• Liberty Loan Building (401 14th St. SW): A historic, freestanding office property along the Tidal Basin originally built for federal war-bond operations in the World War I era and long used by Treasury components.

• 7th & D Federal Office Building (301 7th St. SW): A large, vacant office building near L’Enfant Plaza that has been marketed for potential reuse under zoning that permits a range of redevelopment outcomes, including residential conversion.

Why the sales are happening now

Federal agencies have faced persistent pressures to reduce operating costs tied to vacant or lightly used office space, particularly as work patterns shifted after the pandemic era. In parallel, GSA has been pursuing property disposals through FASTA-related pathways and other authorized processes intended to move surplus federal assets out of the inventory and into new uses.

For the Liberty Loan Building, the government previously outlined plans for the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service to vacate and relocate elsewhere within Treasury, enabling disposal of the property once federal tenancy ends. For 301 7th Street SW, prior federal planning documents and market materials have described substantial building-system challenges and modernization needs, factors that can weigh heavily in cost-benefit evaluations for continued federal use.

What contract status does and does not mean

Being “under contract” signals that the government has selected counterparties and moved negotiations into a binding phase, but it does not guarantee immediate closing. Federal property sales typically involve procedural steps that can include due diligence, environmental and historic-preservation reviews where applicable, and coordination with affected agencies and local stakeholders.

The transactions also highlight the complexity of disposing of high-profile federal sites in a dense, heavily planned part of the District, where redevelopment potential can intersect with infrastructure, security considerations, and long-standing public interest in prominent federal parcels.

What comes next for Southwest D.C.

If the two deals close, they would add momentum to a growing pipeline of federal property dispositions that could reshape sections of the Southwest Federal Center and the L’Enfant Plaza area over time. The practical outcomes—ranging from renovation and office repositioning to residential conversion or mixed-use redevelopment—will ultimately depend on the final transaction terms, regulatory approvals, and the plans advanced by the buyers and the District’s planning process.

GSA has indicated that the federal goal in such sales is to reduce carrying costs while encouraging reuse that can return dormant property to productive economic activity.