FAIRFIELD, Ohio — A federal records center in Fairfield is the largest property in Ohio to make a list of canceled leases published this week by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The list shows the 124,569-square-foot lease has an annual value of $478,213. However, local real estate records show the actual cost saving breaks down to less than one month’s rent. In addition, a public announcement to close the building at 200 Northpointe Drive was made by the Biden administration last August.
“Follow the money with Elon Musk,” Congressman Greg Landsman said. “You’re finding out when they say, ‘Oh, we found billions of dollars in savings.’ It’s like, ‘No you didn’t. That was a few million dollars, and you didn’t save anything.’ So the claims are starting to unravel.”
Learn more about DOGE's list of canceled leases here:
DOGE surprised the commercial real estate industry in early February by announcing the termination of 22 leases that would lead to cost savings of $44.6 million. The list expanded this week, bringing its total savings to $78.9 million from 98 canceled leases for 2.3 million square feet.
The National Archives Centers announced the closure of its Fairfield storage center last August. The fenced-in warehouse building has been a federal records center since 2010, when Kansas City-based KH Bluestream LLC paid $2.6 million for the building and signed a 15-year lease that’s due to expire in July.
The building’s lease requires monthly rent payments of $38,000 this year. It allows the government to terminate the lease at any time by giving a 90-day notice. So, if DOGE sent a termination notice this month, it could save $76,000 by avoiding rent in the deal’s final two months.
But the DOGE website estimates total savings at $39,851, or roughly one month’s rent.
Fairfield Economic Development Manager Nathaniel Kaelin said the lease cancellation could be good news for his city.
“We have a very strong industrial market,” said Kaelin. “There might be a better opportunity for it to transition to another use with more jobs.”
