Trump Administration backtracks Central Mass. lease terminations for IRS offices
Photo | Eric Casey
An IRS office at 120 Front St. (right) is among two in Central Massachusetts no longer appearing on the Department of Government Efficiency's website as properties subject to lease terminations.
After terminating leases for seven federal government offices in Central Massachusetts earlier in March amid a nationwide slashing of government spending and jobs, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has reversed course for two leases involving Internal Revenue Service offices in the region.
Two properties serving as the sites of IRS offices, 120 Front St. in Worcester and 118 Turnpike Road in Southborough, have been removed from a list of federal leases on DOGE’s website due to be terminated.
The five other Central Massachusetts properties included on DOGE’s list of terminations remain on the website as of Wednesday, with agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration being impacted.
Franklin Realty Advisors, the Wellesley-based owner of 120 Front St. and the larger Mercantile Center complex, previously told WBJ the termination notice it received regarding a 14,511-square-foot IRS office at the site had been followed by a second notice from the federal government rescinding that notice.
The firm hasn’t received any other updates on the lease from the federal government since it received the second notice, according to an email from T.K. Skenderian, spokesperson for FRA.
Ryan O'Toole, asset manager of Ferris Development Group, the Southborough-based owner of 118 Turnpike Road, confirmed the firm had also received a termination notice that was shortly followed by a notice the termination was being rescinded.
The reversal of termination notices in Central Massachusetts appears to be a part of a larger trend of backtracking involving IRS offices across the country; A total of 61 IRS office leases had been listed as terminated as of March 5, according to Newsweek, but as of Wednesday only 10 IRS properties remained listed on DOGE’s website. An IRS office in Lowell is still among the list of terminated leases.
Cancellation notices for several IRS offices were issued in error and have been reversed, according to the Associated Press, as landlords for the agency in Springfield and Delaware are among those who have had termination notices rescinded, according to reporting from NBC10 and WilmingtonBiz.
“We got un-DOGE’d,” said Demetrios Panteleakis, principal at Macmillan Group, a property owner which saw a termination notice for an IRS lease at a Springfield building rescinded, according to NBC10.
Former employees at the IRS impacted by job cuts have pointed out the agency brings in more funds for the federal government than it spends, undermining DOGE’s stated goal of reducing the federal deficit, according to ProPublica.
President Donald Trump and other administration officials have repeatedly said DOGE’s efforts are being led by billionaire Musk, while the administration’s lawyers have argued in court Musk is simply an advisor to the president, according to NBC News.
Lawyers representing Trump have said former healthcare executive Amy Gleason is running DOGE as a full-time administrator, although Gleason has been simultaneously working as a consultant at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Politico reporting on Tuesday.
Landlords who did not have their federal lease terminations rescinded face an uphill battle in pushing back against the terminations, said Paul Bauer, a partner at Worcester-based Bowditch & Dewey who focuses on the real estate industry.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated to include details regarding the termination notice for 118 Turnpike Road being rescinded.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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