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Easterly Government Properties
Darrell Crate's Easterly Government Properties owns a $3B portfolio of buildings nearly entirely leased to U.S. federal agencies.
Easterly Government Properties
Easterly Government Properties formed in 2015 around a simple premise: the U.S. government is a tenant that pays on time. Darrell Crate, the former CFO of Equity Office Properties, structured the firm to acquire and develop specialized buildings leased to federal agencies. The initial public offering that year established a vehicle purpose-built for mission-critical administrative and laboratory space, not trophy towers. The firm targets Class-A properties occupied by single federal tenants under long-term, triple-net leases. Asset classes include general office, laboratory, and courthouse facilities, with buildings concentrated near agency headquarters in the Washington, D.C. corridor and other regional hubs. The portfolio spans locations in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Western United States, including dedicated space for the FBI, the VA, and the DEA. Easterly functions primarily as an acquirer and manager of these pre-leased assets, avoiding merchant-build risk. Since its IPO, Easterly has operated as a pure-play, publicly traded REIT with a portfolio exceeding 90 properties and nearly 9 million rentable square feet (per the firm's official communications). The executive team includes CEO William Trimble, previously with The RMR Group, and CFO Meghan Baivier. In March 2025, the company completed the $66 million acquisition of an FDA laboratory facility in Atlanta, expanding its life-science footprint within the federal leasing ecosystem. Easterly's structural differentiator is a financing side effect: because its tenant is the U.S. federal government, lease obligations carry agency-backed credit guarantees. This allows Easterly to finance acquisitions at spreads typically unavailable to private-sector-leased REITs. The strategy has no external complex co-investment vehicles or club dynamics — it is a listed REIT with sufficient scale to consolidate a niche that private buyers find too operationally constrained to contest.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2015
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Washington
Corporate office
Washington, D.C., United States
Principals
Darrell W. Crate
Chairman
William C. Trimble III
CEO and President
Meghan G. Baivier
Chief Financial and Operating Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who leads Easterly Government Properties and sets its investment direction?
Darrell W. Crate is the firm's founder and Chairman. William C. Trimble III serves as CEO and President. Crate previously served as CFO of Equity Office Properties and later led Easterly's strategy of consolidating government-leased real estate. Their shared history in public REIT governance strongly shapes Easterly's acquisition discipline and capital-allocation framework.
What kind of tenant does Easterly target, and what lease structures does it use?
Easterly acquires buildings already fully leased to agencies of the U.S. federal government. The firm almost exclusively uses triple-net leases, where the tenant covers operating costs, taxes, and maintenance. This shifts building-level risk to the government, leaving Easterly as a capital aggregator and facility owner rather than an active property operator.
How does Easterly source and acquire new properties?
The firm sources through direct relationships with federal lessors and brokers who handle government real estate requirements. Because its tenant base is narrow, Easterly often competes against smaller private real estate investors in a market segment too specialized for large diversified REITs. Its public-company cost of capital provides a structural advantage in bidding on government-leased assets.
Is Easterly a single-family office or a traditional REIT?
Easterly is a publicly traded equity REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DEA. It is not a family office or a private investment vehicle. Its structure forces quarterly disclosure, board governance, and access to public debt markets, which supports the continuous acquisition of government-leased buildings.
What government agencies occupy Easterly's properties?
Tenants include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration, among other civilian and defense agencies. Easterly's portfolio includes FBI field offices, VA outpatient clinics, and specialized laboratory facilities, all leased directly by the General Services Administration or the agency itself.
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