NEW BEDFORD — A Rochester man applying for Social Security benefits, one New Bedford woman seeking a Social Security card for her daughter, another trying to straighten out disability payments — so goes part of the life of the Hastings Keith Federal Building on a Thursday morning. But for how long?
The future is clouded, as the government agency that manages real estate plans to pull federal operations out of the two-story downtown building that opened in 1976, the one with the sculpture out front that looks like a giant, ossified sea urchin. The mayor, both U.S. senators and one member of the U.S. House of Representatives just sent letters asking the General Services Administration to reconsider the decision, which includes no certain date for the move.
The GSA Regional Commissioner Glenn C. Rotondo told Mayor Jon Mitchell in a three-paragraph letter in November of the decision to “transition” the Keith building — housing Social Security, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other agencies — from federal use.
Rotondo wrote that this was a first step in a several-year process. His letter said nothing about reasons for the decision.
Letters from Mitchell and members of the Congressional delegation sent in the last 10 days fault the GSA for basing its decision chiefly, if not entirely, on an analysis concluding that it makes no financial sense for the government to keep the building. The letters also object to the agency not consulting with people who would be affected before the decision was made, and for not giving just consideration to federal interests in New Bedford due to the fishing industry and the emergence of offshore wind operations on the port.
In his three-page letter dated Feb. 12 to Rotondo, Mitchell referred to a meeting he had with Rotondo’s staff about the decision in January. He said the GSA had not consulted with the mayor’s office in making the decision, and he asked for a copy of the report on which the conclusion was based.
Mitchell noted that the GSA reported that it was under pressure to make decisions in the face of “insufficient Congressional funding,” has found that a quarter of the Keith building has been vacant, and would be “unprofitable” even if it were fully occupied.
Mitchell wrote that federal buildings in small and mid-size metropolitan areas are apt to make less money than those in larger cities where rents are higher. He said the best office space in New Bedford is about a quarter of the price in Boston.
“The fundamental problem with GSA’s profitability analysis,“ Mitchell wrote, “is that GSA is not in business to make a profit.”
The location of offices that deliver government services, Mitchell wrote, “should not depend on whether it can earn a theoretical profit on its assets. Its job rather, like that of its tenant agencies, is to serve the national interest as determined by Congress.”
Mitchell wrote that he presented to GSA staff a preliminary report by NOAA urging consolidating Northeast offices in New Bedford, suggesting there could be a need for more federal office space, not less.
In an appearance on WBSM Radio on Wednesday morning, Mitchell was more blunt.
“We need a federal building,” he said. “This is not Mayberry.”
If this is the GSA’s approach, he told the radio audience, “then they should put all federal buildings in Boston.”
Rotondo’s office declined a request to talk with The Light, and declined to answer questions about the GSA rationale for the decision and if Mitchell’s way of describing their reasoning is correct. In response, Rotondo’s spokesperson, Paul Hughes, emailed a statement.
“GSA is committed to continued coordination with communities and local officials to keep them informed of the disposition process — including opportunities for engagement — with the goal of meaningful continued use of properties, such as advancing local economic development and employment,” Hughes wrote.
A Feb. 21 letter to the GSA signed by U.S. Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Rep. William R. Keating does not indicate they’re impressed with the agency’s way of working with local officials.
“The fundamental problem with GSA’s profitability analysis is that GSA is not in business to make a profit.”
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell
While the lawmakers said they appreciate contacts with their offices and the city since the decision was made, before that, “the GSA failed to engage with the congressional delegation, the city of New Bedford and existing tenants…” Missing, they wrote, was a robust exchange on the potential negative impact on the community, ways to make better use of the building as a federal property and how to address deficient revenue from the Keith building.
Echoing Mitchell’s points about growing potential federal interest in the city, the lawmakers urge the GSA to consider how to expand federal properties in New Bedford. The Biden-Harris administration, they wrote, “has recognized New Bedford’s importance in advancing national priorities and provided grant funding to deliver on those priorities.”
Word about the Keith building comes as downtown New Bedford has taken a few hits since the summer, when UMass Dartmouth pulled the College of Visual and Performing Arts out of the old Star Store building. Since then, Rite Aid closed its store just a few blocks away on Purchase Street and Union Flats Seafood on Union Street closed.
For a small sampling of folks doing business at the building at North Sixth and Elm on Thursday, the issue was a matter of the convenience of getting business done in person.
“They shouldn’t” pull the federal offices out, said Kelly Paris, of New Bedford, who stopped in to get a Social Security card for her daughter. She said she’s been coming to the building for years, in part to pursue disability benefits for her son.
“This building has always been a place where the elderly, or anyone, can get their business together,” she said, praising the security staff and others who work there.
Jane D’Archangelo of New Bedford said she uses the building frequently, stopping by Thursday in an effort to resolve a discrepancy involving disability payments. She’d have to be back, she said.
“I think that they shouldn’t close it down,” said Wayne Cordeira of Rochester, who was stepping into the building for the first time to apply for Social Security. “Too much crap is done online … I’m not that computer savvy,” he said, adding that in customer service he likes face-to-face contact.
Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org.
Editor’s note: This story was modified on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, to correct the date of Mayor Mitchell’s meeting with the GSA.
