County building purchase looks like a promising deal

The price is right this time and the expected efficiencies make sense. It’s time for Bernalillo County to move, literally.

Bernalillo County is again eyeing the purchase of a building in Downtown Albuquerque to consolidate county administrative services, an idea that has come up repeatedly over the years. Now appears to be the right time to take that step.

The asking price for the Alvarado Square building, which straddles Silver Avenue, has plummeted to $2.7 million — from its $11 million asking price in 2013. Alvarado Square, which was once occupied by Public Service Company of New Mexico, offers 287,000 square feet of space. Currently, the county shares office space with the city of Albuquerque at the Government Center at One Civic Plaza.

In 2008, the county actually had sold about $42 million in bonds to buy the Cavan Building at 500 Marquette NW, where the tony Petroleum Club was housed, but in the uncertain economy at the time, the county wisely reversed its decision and paid back the bonds. So $2.7 million today looks like a steal. County Manager Julie Morgas Baca says consolidating many county services into one location should result in significant savings by reducing fixed costs associated with having administrative employees in various locations across the metro area. The consolidation would include mostly office workers who are now spread out in about 12 buildings located Downtown and elsewhere, according to county spokeswoman Tia Bland.

Although the county does not have a final figure for estimated savings, it expects to save about $15 million in costs associated with not having to renovate existing Downtown office buildings that would be vacated as part of a consolidation designed to create a one-stop-shop complex to handle all customer service functions, according to Bland.

Morgas Baca, in an earlier news release, said “the elimination of these costs and expenses will assist the county in addressing its internal budget challenges, while at the same time presenting a wonderful opportunity to reinvigorate and invest in the Downtown area.”

The purchase would be financed with money the county has in savings, currently about $14 million. Those funds would then be restored by borrowing money through the issuance of gross receipts tax bonds. And that low-interest loan, according to a county news release, would be paid back by selling several of the more than 150 properties the county has in its inventory. (If you think that’s a large number of properties, consider that it includes everything from fire stations to parks and open space to work yards.)

Although voters approved $36 million in bonds in November, some of which was slated for renovation and maintenance of existing county buildings and facilities, that money will not be used for the purchase of Alvarado Square.

The county has already put down $75,000 in earnest money, so this appears to be a serious deal in the making. If all these indicators are right, county commissioners should give this proposal the green light.