The U.S. General Services Building included the Andover Internal Revenue Service building on Lowell Street in a list of 440 federal buildings it was considering selling because theyare “not core to government operations.”
The list, which was posted last week, was pared down to 320 entries before being entirely removed from GSA’s Website. A message on GSA’s Website now reads the list is “coming soon.”
“Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces,” GSA said. “Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
The building was one of nine in Massachusetts on the original list. At one time, the facility employed 3,500 people and processed paper tax returns. The office stopped processing returns in September 2009 following the increase in electronic filing in the early 2000s. As of 2023, about 550 people worked at the IRS’s Andover location, which now serves as a taxpayer assistance center.
Last week, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency included the Occupational Safety and Health Administration center in Andover on a list of hundreds of federal government offices set to have its lease cut.
DOGE ordered the Public Buildings Service at GSA, which manages the federal government’s buildings, to terminate leases that allow for an early exit. DOGE estimates the lease cancellations have already saved $660 million, and that up to 3,000 leases can be terminated without penalty. GSA has a portfolio of about 7,000 leases.