Faced with aging infrastructure, deferred maintenance backlogs, and increasing operational costs, the City of Baltimore’s Department of General Services has launched an ambitious right-sizing initiative to reshape its building portfolio for long-term sustainability.
At NFMT earlier this year, Terrel Chesson, deputy director at Baltimore City, sat down with Dan Hounsell, senior editor for the facility market to discuss the project.
The department oversees 70 owned and leased buildings totaling more than 3.5 million square feet, many averaging over 60 years in age. Deferred maintenance needs have reached $165 million, with total capital needs estimated at $1.2 billion. These challenges have made it essential to rethink building usage, condition, and long-term viability.
The right-sizing strategy is built on four key pillars: detailed facility condition assessments (FCAs), a space assessment modeling tool (SAM) to optimize office layouts, total cost of ownership analysis, and robust market evaluations for underperforming properties. Each building is evaluated for its condition, operational cost, and future market potential, helping prioritize decisions to sell, demolish, repurpose, or upgrade.
An important element of this process has been fostering communication with agency stakeholders, balancing the logic of space optimization with the emotional attachments individuals have to specific spaces. By focusing on aligning resources more effectively, Baltimore aims to reduce its building footprint while improving operational performance and sustainability.
Energy upgrades and sustainability goals are also integrated into right-sizing decisions. Baltimore’s team is examining opportunities like solar, geothermal, and building modernization strategies — but recognizes that reducing the total square footage first is essential to making meaningful progress.
Baltimore’s approach provides a valuable blueprint for facility managers facing similar challenges. Listen to the full conversation to learn how strategic right-sizing not only controls costs, but also sets the stage for healthier, more efficient, and future-ready building portfolios.
Dan Hounsell is the senior editor for the facility market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facility management and maintenance issues.
