Offices of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority now located in the Circa 1886 Marsh Building at 203 Park Avenue will soon be migrating to to the Union County Improvement Authority Park-Madison building at 215 West Front Street.
PMUA commissioners held a special meeting Monday to vote on the lease, which will have an annual base rent of $36,000, with $9,700 for maintenance and $6,500 for taxes. The new offices will occupy 2,443 square feet with a lease term of 120 months. The current office on Park Avenue has more than 5,000 square feet, but officials said less than half was in use for 15 employees. The new lease includes two exclusive parking spaces and five parking permits. PMUA Executive Director Dan Williamson said the UCIA will not permit use of the parking deck on the site due to "liability issues."
The rent will increase every two years, but Commissioner Malcolm Dunn said it will take nine or 10 years for it to reach the rate currently being paid. The authority can opt out of the contract in three years with one-year notice. Offices moving from Park Avenue include Human Resources, Sales and Facilities & Maintenance. The lease there expires on June 30.
The authority owns its headquarters at 127 Roosevelt Avenue and ratepayers will continue to pay bills there. It also owns buildings on Cottage Place, but leases the Rock Avenue Transfer Station from the city. A plan to consolidate offices on Cottage Place in 2006 fell through (see Plaintalker post here).
Other occupants of the UCIA Park-Madison building include state and county offices that formerly leased spaces throughout the city. According to an audit on the UCIA web site, 2011 rental income on the building was $3.4 million, up from $2.9 million in 2010. The UCIA has a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with the city and according to the 2013 Municipal Data Sheet, $62,852.10 was paid in 2012 and $35,000 is anticipated for 2013.
--Bernice
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Why is the UCIA's PILOT payment reducing almost by half in 2013 projections yet their rental income seems to be going up if the trend seen in 2010 & 2011 continues??
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the PMUA has at last addressed the excessive cost incurred when they rented the Park Avenue offices is commendable. That said, it should be noted that the rental price per square foot is $21.36...is not a bargain for Plainfield. The saving is not derived from a substantial reduction in the unit price for the new space, rather, from reducing the area of the rental space by 50%. Something 10 years overdue. The statement that it will take 10 years to reach the rent previously paid on Park Avenue obfuscates the fact that the PMUA is now occupying only half the space it previously occupied. If I understand the statement correctly it translates to the fact that the rent in 10 years will be equal to what the PMUA is currently paying for 5,000 square feet ( twice the area of the new rental). This would indicate that the periodic rent increases are substantial: Again, no bargain.
ReplyDeleteThe Cottage Place plan which was abandoned was the correct approach. To construct a trailer compound. I believe this option remains feasible and that ALL of the PMUA operations could be consolidated at Rock Avenue. The PMUA rejects the idea out of hand. The reasons they give is that there is insufficient room to add trailer office space at Rock Avenue.. I do not accept this and an overview of the property suggests that there is not only sufficient room to add say 6 large trailers, but in addition locate all the operations currently on Cottage Place there as well. The second reason the PMUA officials gave for rejecting the consolidation was that they do not own the Rock Avenue site. I did not understand this response when it was given nor do I understand it now. As long as there is a PMUA there will be a Rock Avenue site. Suggestions to make a feasibility study were dismissed out of hand. Why? The complete consolidation would allow the Authority to sell or lease the Roosevelt Avenue property, previously valued at about 750K, terminate the rental of one of the yards on Cottage Place ( 24K/year ), sell or lease the second yard on Cottage Place which they own, and in 4 years move out of Park Madison (52K/year.) The consolidation would permit further reductions in numerous overhead costs,e.g., telephone services, copy machines, computer services, receptionists, etc.
The Commissioners continue to receive benefits which are unambiguously proscribed, the rates remain some 250% higher than similar adjacent communities, and if you accidentally place a small plastic bottle in your trash container the fine could be sufficient to change your lifestyle. Bill Kruse
why don't they use the vacant building across from their Roosevelt Ave building. It would save money in the long run and bring their operations closer together. Also it would eliminate a vacant Plainfield structure. Or do they owe the county?
ReplyDeleteI think I figured out why the disparity in the UCIA pilot payments. First they were supposed to be paying more than $200,000 not 35k or 65k.This was calculated as a percentage of their construction costs in the developers agreement with the City. What they are paying is only for the retail portion of the project based on rental revenues. The 50% reduction must be based on vacancies. Bottom line - UCIA is still not paying the balance of the pilot which is owed on the office building and garage OR somehow they revised the agreement terms without a council vote (never saw it written up) and are paying a relatively small amount based upon rental fees.Even Sharon says they owe $1.3 million.
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