Council decides to pay more for rent, keep City Hall where it is
Rate will increase 3 percent a year for three years
The Spokane Valley City Council decided this week to accept a 3 percent annual increase for a three-year lease extension on the city’s rented City Hall.
Finance Director Ken Thompson told the council in a report that city staff members thought the city might be paying too much, but information gathered by an independent real estate agent convinced them it would be best to stay put and pay the 3 percent increase.
The city still has a year to go, through March 2010, under its current lease with Northwest Christian Schools, which owns the Redwood Plaza buildings at 11707 E. Sprague Ave. Most city offices are in the plaza’s main Clocktower Building, but the Building Division and a city records warehouse are in a secondary building.
Starting April 1, the current lease agreement calls for rent in the Clocktower Building to increase from $16.15 to $16.65 per square foot. Under the extension the City Council approved Tuesday, the rate will go up to $17.25 in April 2010, an increase of 3.6 percent.
The city leases 22,646 square feet in the Clocktower Building. Including the Building Division and warehouse space, the city rents about 28,000 square feet.
Thompson said the rental rates are to go up about 3 percent in 2011 and again in 2012.
In addition, Thompson said, the city pays $100 a month for fenced parking and $50 a month for four basement storage units in the Clocktower Building, one of which will be given up in April.
The bottom line, according to Thompson, is that the city’s overall rent is poised to go up to approximately $433,000 on April 1 and to rise again in April 2010, to approximately $447,000. Additional 3 percent annual increases would bring the total to approximately $460,400 in 2011 and $474,220 in 2012.
“We did look at three other buildings and, pricewise, they were all comparable,” but moving and renovation costs were prohibitive, Thompson said.
He said moving and renovation costs, including extensive rewiring to accommodate computer systems, were estimated at $200,000.
Two of the alternate sites didn’t have enough room, which would have forced the city to scatter its offices around town. It’s difficult to find 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of office space in one location, Thompson said.
Also, he said, “We wanted to be centrally located.”
Sites that were considered included the Numerica Credit Union administrative building at 14610 E. Sprague Ave., the Horizon Credit Union administrative building at 13224 E. Mansfield Ave. and the River View Corporate Center at 16201 E. Indiana Ave.