BEMIDJI — Bemidji Indian Health Service is one of the latest offices eyed for lease termination as the federal government aims to eliminate around 600 buildings from its inventory.
According to the new Department of Government Efficiency, the estimated lease for a Bemidji IHS office is $134,000.
The lease noted in DOGE's list is for 4,896 square feet of office space, and the Minnesota District Bemidji Area IHS- Environmental Health and Engineering has a suite in a medical strip mall on 5th Street.
Bemidji's Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs have a 35,000-square-foot office building built in 2020 in Bemidji’s Technology Park. The General Services Administration, which oversees federal buildings, entered a 15-year lease on the new construction.
The Star Tribune reported other federal buildings in Minnesota that may be offloaded include the federal courthouse in Fergus Falls, two Social Security Administration offices, the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building near the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport and the Paul D. Wellstone Building in downtown Minneapolis.
The Bemidji area office for IHS provides service and support for 34 federally recognized tribes and four urban Indian Health programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as operating direct programs on behalf of the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth bands.
Bemidji’s IHS and BIA offices were once housed in a federal building downtown, built in 1960 originally as a post office. The building has sat vacant for a number of years and is currently on the market for $1.2 million.
KAXE contacted the local office seeking more information, but that call was not returned as of Monday, March 3.
