CHICAGO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is selling its flagship South Building office hub on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., ​and relocating employees to other locations ‌across the country by the end of the year, the agency said ⁠on Wednesday.

The move to vacate and sell the massive ⁠but aging building is part of a ‌broader cost-cutting ‌initiative at the department, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, citing high maintenance ​costs and low occupancy.

Thousands of ‌USDA employees have taken buyouts and left the department over the past year amid Republican ​U.S. President Donald Trump's effort ​to ‌reshape and reduce the size and footprint of the federal government.

"At one time, the South Building was the ⁠beating heart of USDA, alive with research and ⁠teeming with activity decades ago. But today, it is a shell of what it once was," Rollins said at a press conference outside the building on Wednesday.

The ⁠building ‌will be turned over to the government's ‌General Services Administration for sale, Rollins said as Iowa Senator ⁠Joni Ernst unveiled a "For Sale By Owner" sign.

The flagship USDA property, built in the U.S. capital in the 1930s, has $1.6 billion in delinquent maintenance costs while about 80% of its offices are vacant, GSA Administrator Edward Forst said.

The USDA has ​said it is planning to relocate much of its remaining staff in the U.S. capital to hubs in North Carolina, ​Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and ‌Utah.