Before we take their comments, I would like to talk about a few others here today, senior advisor to the Governor, Keiffer Mitchell and Mr. Carter, thank you for joining us here today. One of the General Services responsibilities is to oversee the operation and maintenance of more than 6 million square feet state-owned government be buildings and grounds. We operate two government campuses in this state one being in Baltimore’s midtown which houses 12 agencies with more than 3,000 employees which resides ten minutes northwest of this plaza.
General Services also responsible for soliciting, securing and overseeing the commercial office space for our government’s executive agencies through our Office Of Real Estate. We are working with property owners in an expanding portfolio of more than 4 million square feet across the state of which here in Baltimore 2 million square feet is distributed over 21 agencies.
In my time as Secretary, Governor Hogan has consistently directed the executive departments to improve the effectiveness to how governance deliveries. In doing so executive agencies strive to bring better working environments that mimic resource consumption, promote productivity for all our civil servants across the state and for those 10,000 who work here in Baltimore City. Like everything in this last year we are adjusting to the impact on our government properties. And although general services has paused our leasing operations we continue to work with the executive department to prepare for space in a COVID-free world, getting ready to act once Governor Hogan believes we should proceed. That’s why it’s an honor to work for the Governor. He is the definition of a leader and I thank him for his leadership. It’s also an honor to be able to introduce you today. Please join me in welcoming the 62nd Governor of the great state of Maryland, Larry Hogan.
We have provided record funding for city schools seven years in a row an historic $8.6 billion for K-12 education in the city of Baltimore. In fact, no administration in Maryland history has ever invested more in Baltimore City. Over the past year as the Secretary said the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a devastating toll on the national, state and local economies. Fortunately Maryland’s economy is recovering at a faster pace than the nation and most other states. We have gained nearly 25,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2021 and we have had 11 consecutive months of job growth in Maryland.
Unfortunately, here in downtown Baltimore, office vacancies in the central business district are up nearly 34%. And major businesses like T.Rowe Price and Bank of America have announced plans to relocate to other parts of the city. The state of Maryland has more than 15,000 state employees here. We occupy 2.2 million square feet of office space in the city. To help stabilize the downtown area we have an ambitious plan. We will relocate 3,300 state employees from 12 different state agencies to the area in and around the downtown central business district.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year and the resulting teleworking policies and budgetary concerns forced as the Secretary said a temporary pause in that effort. But that time allowed us to direct All State agencies to reevaluate, reimagine and adapt their office footprints to incorporate teleworking models where appropriate. Now that we have a clearer and more promising budget outlook, we were pleased to work together with President Bill Ferguson and the legislature to budget for $50 million to help pay for the relocation of state agencies and their thousands of employees to this area of downtown Baltimore.
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We’re pleased to begin that process today. With the issuance of an RFP for the relocation of the Maryland Department of Human Services in the downtown strict. DHS serves over one million Marylanders over the year. Moving the department and its more than 700 employees into over 5,000 square feet of office space inspect downtown is an important first step in the recovery of the central business district.
Today we are also announcing that the Maryland Department of Health with its nearly 1200 employees will also be relocating to the downtown central business district and will be the next agency to come.
These two agencies —
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— I don’t want to step on your applause!
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Last summer we began evaluating our space needs and telework requirements in light of this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. I directed cabinet secretaries with the guidance of the department Of General Services to evaluate their future workforce needs in light of our expanded use of telework and what their post pandemic space needs would look like based on the new telework policy. The pandemic has shown us two things. First, in order to compete and attract workers and create a viable and effective state workforce going forward, we need to offer modern, functional, adaptable work space and options to aid the flexibility in the private sector. This pandemic era has shifted many private companies to move a large portion of their workforce to remote work and some permanently. Currently 47% of our employees were able to telework during the pandemic emergency. Second, the size and scale of the offices we utilize now may not be necessary going forward. More importantly, we recognize that many of our state facilities are in such poor condition that it is currently costing us more money to maintain those buildings than to rent property downtown. And rent well-kept property downtown.
Accordingly increasing teleworking options have opened up opportunities to evaluate our space, space leasing and owned space. This allows us to reduce real estate and real estate-related costs. I look forward to working on this process in conjunction with the Department of Budget and Management and General Services and it is my hope that we will move forward with more modern, vibrant work space for our hard-working state employees. I hope that this investment will serve additional economic and civic real vitalization and transformation in the downtown business district. Thank you very much.
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About halfway through the pitch the Governor stopped me and he said you don’t need to say anything else. I get it. That’s exactly right. I wanted to move this, we have been pushing DGS, this is an opportunity to use these funds as a stimulus for the city of Baltimore and this region. I didn’t have to sell it. The Governor knew right away.
Two weeks later $50 million came through in the supplemental budget that led to this moment and we will see two new agencies move to the downtown. I want to say this is not just about buildings, though. While the buildings are important and don’t get me wrong, the buildings are very important. It’s about the people. A city lives and dies on momentum. When you invest in the people when you bring people to places like this place, that is what makes cities great. What we are able to be a part of today and I want to thank, again, my partners in the administration, my friends in the House of Delegates, senator Hayes who continues to imagine and will help reimagine space in the future, but this is what it looks like in a post pandemic environment. People solving problems saying we are going to get through this and we are going to create a brighter future. Thank you, thank you for this day, let’s keep winning the day. Thank you all.
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We are also working on placement initiatives to complement the move. We launched an initiative for black owned tenancies, minority restaurants and retail within the district. We’re reimagining and branding for intentional place making and transforming unused or under used spaces. (Away from mic.)
We appreciate the partnership of the state including government are, Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford, and everyone who helped to create this. We will not take this for granted. We recognize there is no other area like the CBD in the state and this is an opportunity for the state, city and business community to work together, to create a walkable campus life environment filled with art, healthcare, tourism, restaurants, and entertainment, amenities for all our state employees right here in the heart of our city. Thank you so much.
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Those that are interested should go to our state website. You can access the site in three different ways. You can go to the General Services website, and click on the procurement tab, and you can also go to our website for the Office of State Procurement. And www.emma.Maryland.gov. You can get access to the one sight and check out the solicitations. That ends our announcement for today and I thank everyone for attending. Thank you.