Challenge
The Department of Defense slated the closure of a Defense Finance & Accounting Service (DFAS) office in Cleveland, Ohio under the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) process.
Solution
Allegro Realty Advisors was engaged as real estate consultants to work closely with regional economic development organizations and their political consultants to conduct real estate market analysis and build an argument against the closing. A comprehensive review of more than 10,000 pages of BRAC data by this public-private partnership team identified data errors affecting the Pentagon’s decision to put the subject facility on the closure list. The BRAC commission voted to close 20 DFAS offices and keep five open, one of which was in Cleveland. Allegro performed the following services:
- Analyzed and modeled a feasible financing structure enabling local government entities to build a new facility for DFAS in the downtown office market; and
- Conducted complex financial modeling, market research, and dissection of GAO accounting principles to support the business case for retaining DFAS operations in Cleveland.
Upon review of the business case, BRAC decided not only to retain, but also to expand the DFAS office in Cleveland.
