BART directors will vote next Thursday on a proposal by staff that the transit agency spend $227 million to buy a building in downtown Oakland and upgrade it so it can serve as its new headquarters.
BART spokesman Chris Filippi said on Friday that staff did extensive research for more than a year before recommending buying the building at 2150 Webster St., which is only a few blocks from its current headquarters at the Kaiser Center complex at 300 Lakeside Dr.
The proposal calls for spending $140 million to buy the building and $85 million to improve it, along with $2 million in closing costs.
A 25-year sales tax bond would finance the deal.
Filippi said BART’s lease at its current headquarters will expire in 2021 and its rent could increase by as much as 90 percent if it renews its lease there.
Filippi said BART officials believe buying the 2150 Webster St. building provides the lowest cost option over the next 25 years and would save up to $150 million compared to leasing costs over that time.
In addition, he said BART would own the building after the debt service period expires.
Filippi said the move would be a 33 percent reduction in square footage for its headquarters, as it occupies 369,587 square feet at the Kaiser Center complex, while it would have 250,000 square feet at 2150 Webster St.
But he said BART officials think the proposed new location will have enough space because workers “can be more efficient” there.
Filippi said the 2150 Webster St. site is a centralized location near the 19th Street BART station and will have a board meeting room on its ground floor that is more accessible to the public.
The board currently meets on the third floor of the Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall, which is the building next to its headquarters.
BART also considered relocating to a new tower at 601 12th St. in downtown Oakland, where Blue Shield has a lease, but a report by BART manager of real estate Sean Brooks concluded the costs were higher than at 2150
Webster St.
In addition, BART studied moving to two proposed office projects by different developers at the Lake Merritt and West Oakland BART stations on land that the agency owns.
But Brooks said in his report that those projects aren’t approved and won’t be ready in time when BART’s lease expires.
Lane Partners and Walton Street Capital own 2150 Webster St., which was formerly an AT&T office building that was fully renovated.
Filippi said that if the BART board votes to approve the move work to upgrade the 2150 Webster St. building would begin in the summer of 2020 and employees would begin moving there in April 2021 and finish moving there in July 2021, when the lease at the current headquarters site expires.
Definitely better to buy than to lease over a long term deal. Would’ve been nice if they bought a long time ago though before real estate went up. Hopefully the smaller location will still work for them. Otherwise in 25 years they will just buy another building for twice the price instead of just doing it now.
TAX TAX TAX. That’s all they want to do. When do the people have a say in this garbage. Hopefully it is on a ballot.
It doesn’t matter if it goes on the ballot. The MORON voters will vote for it anyway.
No brains, no headache.
“Thank you, sir. May I have another”
Taxes are a drop in the bucket compared to the regular increase in wages for upper echelon managers and retirees. It is more than a slap to the face of middle and lower income families.
This is hard times. People are losing their houses, their jobs. Politicians are orchestrating our ruin. Make no mistake, they know the outcome of continued financial distress. Whatever name you call it – socialism, fascism, communism – the middle class are slated for collapse.
How about some of those silicon valley fat cats (but only that really want save the world from car exhaust) DONATE the funds (for the public good!). They could even name it.
FANG BART
Precisely! It’s about time Silicon Valley reinvested in the community as payback for the unprecedented leeway they have been given in growing their business … and their personal fortunes.
How about spending that money on better service for your patrons. $227 million would be more than enough to clean and maintain the inside of the cars. How about more security in and around your stations.
I totally agree. I pick up my wife several days a week and watch several people Hop the gates or just force them open in Antioch
The other commenter is right, they should have bought a long time ago. It is what it is. Regardless, it does make sense to own over leasing.
What I’m wondering is, why doesn’t BART build on some of the property they already own? I worked as a tech for BART for a while, and I know they own a ton of land all over the bay. I’m guessing the mucky mucks just don’t want to drive out to Hayward or east CoCo county and be near the riff-raff. They’re too cosy in their posh Lake Merritt pad.
Buying makes more financial sense than leasing over the long term. But why do they need a sales tax bond to finance the deal? How are they paying for the current lease? Would a bond be required if they continued with the current lease?
This is the best question of all here. How were they planning on paying the lease without a bond. Now they need a bond to pay for their headquarters. How much are the existing lease payments?
369,000 sq ft? All they need is a building to buy right by a bart line anywere in the bay. Probably the cheapest is Hayward or somewhere else besides downtown anywhere.
BART can’t find the money to increase security for passengers but can find the money to remodel their offices.
NO MORE TAXES PERIOD…
Misread the post, it’s a sales tax bond. BART needs to further explain their need for this bond but I don’t trust anything BART has to say!!!
Sales taxes ARE taxes. NO NEW TAXES.
I can’t afford any more taxes. BART service is horrible and the system has been taken over transients that have plenty of drugs to shoot up with on the trains. Still never see BPD on platforms or on trains only screaming crazy transients. The BART experience is only good for BART management at the expense of passenger safety and security. Too many creeps at Concord. Passengers watch your backs, packs and wallets. Santa Clara County is the only safe place for passengers currently. Thank God they bought their own stations, train cars and tracks. BART Management and Board are thieves and dishonest. How can new GM ask for another tax after lackluster Disgrace Crunican’s departure, a pathetic hiring decision along with Rojas.
How many people do they have working in their office? They have payroll and human resources. What else do they need? Build a building out at the end of one of their lines so they can all BART to work. They could save a fortune.
They have a pretty big engineering department that’s based there as well.
What are they engineering? Everything is purchased. Oh, I forgot purchasing department. Still don’t need to be in a high rent neighborhood.
You would understand what they’re engineering if you worked in the industry. It’s ok if you’re not familiar with these kinds of things, but be aware that there is a ton going on behind the scene that most people don’t even know exist.
These people are just mad. I really wish they had to commute from somewhere to work on BART without any bodyguard or other backup for one bloody week per year, randomly chosen by me. This is not what we paid for, and believe me, we DID pay. Now you better have a LOT of money to go somewhere on BART, and don’t think it’ll be fun. I learned the hard way you may be exposing your kids to something you thought there would be a few more years before you’d have to explain it to them. Why do we keep bending to their every whim and occasional scare tactic? BART stinks.
What are you on about? I’m sure a vast number of Bart workers take Bart daily to work. And I know at least one Bart board member BARTs to his day job.
Raise the Bart ticket prices to pay for this. People that use Bart should enjoy the increased costs. People that never use Bart shouldn’t have to share in this.
Foonman, I totally agree!
Home owners pay through our property taxes for BARF already. As far as I’m concerned, NO MORE TAXES!
NOTHING FOR BART.
Why do they feel the need to stay in Oakland? Move out to Livermore, Richmond or Brentwood. They would save employees commuter time and get cheaper prices
If they can be more “efficient” in a smaller workspace, the cost savings for that should be a wash whether it’s a purchase or lease. Unless they’re saying that they won’t bother being efficient if they lease.
How about this, move into the old Bank of America corporate office that’s walking distance from Concord Bart. Bring jobs into Contra Costa and spend a fraction of the $.
That is a great idea. And then they could all commute on Concord BART, and experience first hand what riding BART is like on a daily basis. And how fun it is to find parking.
Riding BART daily to work, as a job requirement, needs to be a condition of continued employment at BART.
How about they set up mini workstations in each of their stations? Let them work where they s**t.
NO!!! WHY!!!??? They need to use that amount of money and better the stations! There should be one officer assigned per station. Last week, I almost got physically abused by a person in a bad mental state. The stations reek of urine and there is also human fecal matter to avoid. The stations are filthy and there is no cleaning crew around. Every time I ride the train, there is at least one person jumping the gate or just walking out using the handicap gate. BARF fees are not going to what they are supposed to!
Have to add that the so called “Fleet of the Future” is already looking nasty! Some of those cars have already been vandalized with permanent markers and handwritten stickers advertising services as well as the seats are already stained and any nook and cranny is already been used as a garbage can. The old trains are missing seats or the seats are broken. The air conditioner doesn’t work well especially when people are packed in like sardines and the worst part is that handicap people can’t safely ride the trains because BART is NOT ADA COMPLIANT. BART is BARF.
I worked for the phone company in the 2150 Webster Building in the early 90’s. And commuted on BART to get to it
The original headquarters was in a large building next to Lake Merritt station and sustained significant damage during the earthquake. The building was torn down and never re built. BART had a long term lease and now of course waited till the last minute to make a decision. They should build a new building on that land that is owned by BART. I get why their headquarters are in the center of the system, so management staff etc can get to stations in a reasonable amount of time.
A Silver Castle to look down on the commuting Peasants.
Perhaps convert out of service BART cars into corporate offices.
Another sales tax bond – 25 years.
You got what you voted for….
Lane Partners and Walton Street Pay $44MM for Oakland Asset
May 6, 2016