City grants rent reprieve for Center for the Arts nonprofit
Sausalito will keep the rent low for its tenant, the Sausalito Center for the Arts — for now.
The nonprofit rents a cityowned building at 750 Bridgeway, where the rent was set to rise from $4,029 to $11,095 per month in March. The center asked the City Council to amend the lease to keep rent the same.
When the lease was negotiated in 2022, the initial rent was set around $11,000. City leaders cut the center a break for 18 months so it could raise more funds and get set up.
At the council's meeting on Tuesday, Vice Mayor Joan Cox
asked if the center could accommodate any rent increase at all, considering it signed a lease knowing the increase would come.
“Certainly you had some business plan in place to plan to accommodate a large increase,” Cox said. “If not a large increase, what increase can you accommodate and what would you offer?”
Ron Albert, an arts center board member, said if the city took on a “more conventional” lease agreement where maintenance and upkeep was covered by the landlord, then more funds could go toward rent. The center has a “triple net” lease, which requires it to pay property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs.
Albert said the center needs to spend more than $300,000 on repairs and improvements on the building.
Council members asked staff to complete a study of all city-owned buildings and leases in order to determine a policy. In the meantime, the council voted to keep the art center's rent at $4,029 for six months.
The $7,066 difference will come out of the city's general fund to cover the costs of the building, according to Councilmember Jill Hoffman.
Hoffman said she understands the community's passion for the arts, but said the council has to balance that with the financial