Congresswoman Shontel Brown Slams Reckless Plan to Sell Cleveland’s Celebrezze Federal Building 

Cleveland, OH – Today, Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) slammed the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) decision to dispose of the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building.  

“The Trump Administration is delivering a slap in the face to the City of Cleveland by rushing to sell the Celebrezze building,” said Congresswoman Brown. “The Celebrezze building is a critical cornerstone for Cleveland’s federal operations and a vital anchor for the downtown economy. This reckless and short-sighted fire-sale will disrupt essential federal services and undermine the City’s critical investments in the downtown economy. What’s more, it will inflict further trauma on public servants, who have been relentlessly attacked by DOGE and this Administration with return-to-work orders and indiscriminate firings. Our city and our people deserve better than being treated as collateral damage in DOGE’s reckless cost-cutting schemes.” 

The Celebrezze Building currently houses over 4,000 federal employees across multiple critical agencies, including the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The displacement of these agencies would severely disrupt services that countless Ohioans rely upon daily. 

Congresswoman Brown today sent a letter to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA),  underscoring the devastating impact this sale could have and urging the GSA to immediately reconsider the sale. She also urged the GSA to await a final recommendation from the Public Buildings Review Board, which was simultaneously analyzing the property for disposition.  

“This decision is especially alarming given the ongoing upheaval within the federal workforce,” writes Congresswoman Brown. “The Administration’s abrupt mandate requiring employees to return to in-person work, coupled with broader efforts to reduce the federal workforce, is already creating instability. Forcing agencies into fragmented leasing arrangements will only exacerbate this disruption, introducing inefficiencies, diminishing employee morale, and ultimately degrading the quality of public services. Moreover, with the administration simultaneously pushing to reduce the federal footprint by slashing existing leases, there is no guarantee that suitable relocation options will even be secured. The likely outcome is therefore not merely disruption—it is a direct reduction in federal employment in Ohio, with serious consequences for the local economy.” 

Read the full letter here.