The Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk is terminating leases for at least 16 federal offices in Wisconsin, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Ashland.
The locations are included on a list of terminated lease contracts published on DOGE’s website. WPR cross-referenced the list with an inventory of leases from the General Services Administration.
The cancellations appear to affect locations listed for the Small Business Administration and Food and Drug Administration in Madison and Milwaukee. They also appear to affect a Defense Contract Management Agency office in Milwaukee and the Federal Highway Administration office in Madison.
However, buildings at some locations house multiple offices, and WPR was not able to independently verify which agencies are affected.
The 34,970-square-foot Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Ashland is owned by commercial real estate investment company Tanenbaum Equity Partners, according to Bill Broydrick, a consultant representing the building’s owner. Broydrick said the company’s subsidiary received notice that its lease agreement would be terminated by the end of August.
“We think that’s a mistake, and we hope that the government will change its mind,” Broydrick said.
A regional spokesperson with the General Services Administration was not immediately available for comment on lease terminations.
The Ashland office employs more than 40 full-time workers, according to a company fact sheet. Tanenbaum’s subsidiary RTD Ashland-BIA, LLC leased the building to the federal government for nearly $645,000 a year, according to data from the GSA website. DOGE claims terminating the lease will save $1.5 million. The office was under a 10-year lease that was set to expire in January 2028.
Tehassi Hill, chair of the Oneida Nation, said it’s an important office to tribes in Wisconsin. He said they work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on real estate transactions, reporting mortgages and the process of converting individually owned properties into lands that are held in trust for tribes by the federal government. He said it’s unclear what would happen to the office’s employees, which would have the most significant impact on tribes.
“If they keep the personnel and just move them to a different location, to another, say, federal building in the region, likely the work will continue on,” Hill said. “But if these employees are terminated, then it’ll lead to a significant backlog of issues that tribes work with the BIA office on a regular basis.”
A 2023 government study found some of the agency’s offices responsible for recording land titles have already faced high staff turnover, low staffing or inadequate funding to hire positions. Regardless of federal budgets or contracts, Hill said the federal government has a responsibility to uphold what’s owed tribes under federal treaties.
The Office of Public Affairs for Indian Affairs said in a statement that the Department of Interior is committed to upholding federal responsibilities to tribal communities.
“Indian Affairs offices remain open and continue to provide services. The Department of the Interior is working with GSA to ensure facilities will be available for the continued delivery of BIA services,” the agency wrote, saying no further information was available at this time.
Stay informed on the latest news
Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.
Canceled leases include offices in Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee
The DOGE website also lists a lease termination at the Jefferson Court Building in Green Bay, which houses multiple federal offices. That includes the United States District Court for the Green Bay Division.
“All I can confirm to you is the court is still operating,” Chief Deputy Clerk Kelly Barton Terry said.
The building also houses an office for the Social Security Administration. Jessica LaPointe, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220, represents Social Security workers nationwide. She said they’ve been wading through the list on the DOGE website.
“I contacted the Green Bay office, and they had not heard that that was going to affect their office,” LaPointe said.
The Social Security Administration has more than one office in Green Bay. The Green Bay Press Gazette reported that the lease termination affected a hearing office in the building.
An SSA spokesperson told WPR that the agency is working with the GSA to review leases and “ensure they are used efficiently.”
“Most of the leases we are not renewing are for small remote hearing sites that are co-located with other Federal space. As the majority of our hearings are held virtually, we no longer need as many in-person hearings locations,” the spokesperson wrote.
The agency said other office closures had no public interaction or will be consolidated into nearby locations or had been previously slated for closure.
In Madison, an official with knowledge of the situation confirmed that a lease had been terminated for the Federal Highway Administration office, which employs about 30 people. They requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
“They canceled our lease because we had a lease term of less than five years remaining. They have no plan as to where we are going,” the official said.
They added numerous federal leases will be impacted in Madison and no guidance has been given to federal staff in the state’s regional offices.
Nearly 40 percent of federal contracts that have been terminated under the Trump administration won’t save the government money, according to the Associated Press.
The DOGE website lists the closing of one office in Madison, which housed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The website states the lease termination will save the government $290,709.
Johnny Blaska, co-owner of Oak Leaf Properties, leased the building to the federal government for about $58,000 a year under a 10-year agreement with the General Services Administration. Blaska said a small number of law enforcement officers for the agency used the building to store evidence and equipment to conduct their work, but he said he already knew last year that the federal government planned to end the lease early under an option to terminate the contract after five years.
“It was naturally coming to an end, but I feel bad. Those guys needed office space to do their jobs, but their funding was cut,” Blaska said. “They had to move out.”
Blaska said he was officially notified in early January and the office was vacated.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
