The Richard C. White Federal Building, located at 700 E. San Antonio in downtown El Paso, is expected to soon be listed for sale as part of the massive Trump administration move to reduce the federal budget by disposing of certain underused government properties.
Measuring around 160,000 square feet, the structure was named in honor of the late Congressman Richard White who died in 1998 and features a first-floor lobby oil-on-canvas piece created by the artist John Valdez in 1993.
The seven-story structure was completed in the spring at a cost of $11 million and originally provided offices for the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, among other federal agencies.
The General Services Administration has now announced that the White building is slated to be sold in response a move on the part of the advisory Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE.
The action on the White Building comes as the GSA has announced that just under 450 federal buildings nationally are set to go to market in the efficiency move.
In a statement, the GSA said that it is currently engaged in a process of “identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations,” with non-core properties set for disposal.
Selling the various properties, continues the GSA statement, “ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal space.” The action also means, says the GSA, doing away with “costly maintenance.”
Three other federal buildings in El Paso are slated to be sold: the R. Thomason Federal Building and Courthouse at 511 E. San Antonio Avenue, which was built in 1938 and features Art Deco design elements; and the US Business Service’s Good Neighbor Buildings A and B on N. Stanton Street.
Earlier reports have indicated that there may be as many as two dozen federal buildings in Texas that will ultimately be put up for sale.
March 6, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of General Services Administration
