By Douglas Gillison
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury's bank regulation agency has terminated the lease for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Washington headquarters after 14 years and agreed to pass the premises to the federal government's general real estate management agency, records obtained by Reuters show.
The move, which ends the lease at least six years early, raises further questions about President Donald Trump’s plans for the CFPB, an agency created by Congress
after the 2008 financial crash to police consumer financial products.
Trump has called for it to be abolished and, according to evidence submitted in court, his administration initially aimed to shutter the agency. But following litigation brought by staff, the administration is now seeking court approval to cut the agency's workforce to a third of its previous size of about 1,700.
The documents, released to Reuters under the Freedom of Information Act, show the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) terminated the CFPB's lease in February and agreed to transfer the property to the General Services Administration, which manages government real estate, at no cost.
The OCC inherited the building in 2010 following a post-financial-crisis overhaul of the U.S. regulatory framework that also created the CFPB.
The Trump administration says the agency is a politicized burden on free enterprise, while its defenders say efforts to shut it down will harm consumers.
The change in ownership of the CFPB's premises, which are situated in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C., has not previously been reported.
A CFPB spokesperson said in an email that the agency's headquarters were at the premises concerned but did not answer detailed questions.
The CFPB first notified the OCC that it wanted to end the lease shortly after Trump took office last year and did so again in December, according to a lease termination agreement contained in the records.
The original 20-year lease required the CFPB to pay about $11.4 million in rent to the OCC for 2012, with the amount increasing annually by 2%. It was unclear whether the CFPB would pay rent to the GSA.
In a February 12 letter to the GSA, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said there were "costs and risks" associated with managing the property, and that being the CFPB's landlord "does not advance the OCC’s mission."
Representatives for the OCC and GSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
SIGNAGE REMOVED
Following steady attrition over the past year, there are now fewer than 1,200 CFPB workers, according to records submitted by the agency in court last month.
Only a small number of CFPB employees regularly work from the building, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, with most working from home.
Trump’s Budget Director Russell Vought, who is the CFPB's acting director, last year halted agency work and sent employees home, and signage disappeared from the building overnight.
Some functions have since resumed, including the drafting of regulations and limited supervisory work. The agency also recently advertised a small number of job openings for attorneys, online postings show.
The GSA's Public Buildings Service says it maintains more than 359 million square feet of government workspace, but in recent years has focused on "right-sizing" its portfolio, including by disposing of real estate deemed underutilized.
Located opposite the White House complex, the agency's 1974 modern architecture offices have story-height windows and occupy a desirable downtown spot in the capital, with more than 300,000 square feet, over 200 parking spaces and an accessible rooftop, according to the leasing documents.
(Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Michelle Price and Jamie Freed)
