Why election commission shouldn’t move to North County: current landlord rep

G.T. Cozad, III, representative of the owner of the building in Sunnen Business Park that the St. Louis County Board of Election Commission occupies, takes issue with reasons given why the commission and two other departments should move to Crossings at Northwest — formerly Northwest Plaza — as reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The councilman who introduced the legislation said it will save the county $10 million over 20 years.

Cozad says he wasn’t contacted about renegotiating the lease contract at Sunnen, and that he wasn’t aware of a public bidding process. Also that Page touts the potential location’s “improved public transit access” —  Cozad points out that the current location has a Metrolink station in the same business park and close proximity to highways 40/64, I-44 and I-170.

Cozad wrote a letter to county council Executive Steve Stenger and the entire council. Cozad also sent the letter to 40 South News:

RE: Article regarding relocation of St. Louis County Board of Election Commission

Please be advised that this letter is written on behalf of the Owner/Landlord, Sunquad LLLP, of the building that St. Louis County Board of Election Commission (BOEC) currently occupies.

The recent article that was written regarding potential legislation to relocate BOEC and other St. Louis County divisions came as a surprise to say the least.  The owner has had a good long-term relationship with BOEC.  There are several points that I think are important to consider before rushing into a non-standard 20-year new lease at another location.  Please keep in mind that the below points are mainly directed to the BOEC portion of the article as that is the only current lease that we have direct involvement with.

• The article talked about a savings of $10 million dollars over a 20-year period.  While the article was correct when comparing BOEC’s current rate to a new rate, it failed to mention that the current rate was part of a lease agreement where the terms were 1-year long with a 90-day termination notice.  So, the current rate was reflective of this short term risk. Our owner wants to make it clear that, for a longer term lease (3-5 years or more), we are sure that we could be competitive with the rate that was described in the article and in the County Council agenda attachments.  This would negate a significant amount of savings as described in the article and the county agenda attachment. However, we were not approached about any new rate negotiation. Were any of the other Owner/Landlords of the other County divisions approached about a lease negotiation?
• We were not informed of any potential public bidding process regarding this new large St. Louis County Lease.  Were moving/logistical costs considered when analyzing the “savings”? We are certain that there may be several building owners that would have provided a competitive Lease structure for St. Louis County to consider. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to analyze all available alternatives before committing taxpayer money for such a large, abnormal lease period of time? This is even more concerning since the proposed site is a site that had a “St. Louis Post Dispatch investigation that uncovered irregularities in the bidding process that cost taxpayers millions of dollars”, per the most recent article.
• The article that came out in the paper referenced St. Louis County Councilman, Sam Page, saying that the North County site “will provide job seekers with improved public transit access”. The current BOEC site has a Metrolink station in the same business park (approximately 525 feet away). It also has great Metro Bus access. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Highways 40/64, I-44 and I-170. We are not sure what public transit access can be better than that.
• With BOEC, there has been significant taxpayer dollars spent on certain improvements in the current space. Have these been fully amortized over their expected useful life? Was this considered when calculating the “savings” to taxpayers?

In general, there are many other points, other than the above mentioned items, that should probably be considered before making this decision and voting on a long term lease commitment. We respectfully ask that the County Council uses this letter to have a reason to pause and analyze the deal before rushing into a final decision. As a representative of BOEC’s current Landlord, I am happy to discuss this further.

Sincerely, G.T. Cozad, III

G.T. Cozad, III, SIOR | President, Cozad Commercial Real Estate, LTD