County poised to buy some Intel buildings for $25 million

In one of its most significant moves in decades, El Paso County is about to enter a $25 million deal to buy a new three-story office building, parking garage and a wastewater treatment facility on the former Intel campus on the Garden of the Gods Road.

If the deal’s approved by the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, many county-run facilities scattered throughout central Colorado Springs will move to the northwest location. They include the county’s Department of Health and Environment, the Department of Human Services, the Pikes Peak Workforce Center, the Office of

Emergency Management, as well as the Clerk & Recorder, Assessor and Treasurer’s Office.

“This is huge,” County Administrator Jeff Greene said after a meeting Tuesday in which the details of the purchase, as well as financing options, were unveiled.

For nearly a year, county officials have been grappling with ways to deal with their aging buildings. After looking into the cost of renovations and repairs, officials concluded the most cost-effective solution was to buy  existing commercial space.

“The question is, ‘Can the county afford to do nothing?” Greene said, citing the loss of nearly $50,000 in medications at the Department of Health last year.

The Intel facility, which consists of 1.4 million square-foot plant, was sold in 2009 to a partnership controlled by the Los Angeles-based Industrial Realty Group for $15.1 million. Intel bought the plant for $45.5 million in 2000 and spent hundreds of millions of dollars expanding it before halting production in 2007 and vacating in June of 2009.

In addition to the initial $25 million to purchase the Intel buildings, the county will have to spend another $10 million to “repurpose” vacated offices for other county departments, spokesman Dave Rose said. “There will be no reduction in services and no increases in taxes,” he said.

The Intel office building contains 289,000 square feet, Rose said. Two floors are completely built out and have cubicles and furniture, he added

The parking garage has spaces for more than 1,000 cars and the wastewater facility will be converted in a storage building for specialized vehicles and other equipment. The move could begin as early as late summer or early fall, Rose said.

Greene said the county hopes to finance the purchase through Build America Bonds and tax exempt lease purchase securities. The county will pay back the bulk of the money through lease payments it receives from the departments that will actually located in the new facilities, he explained

Ron Butlin, executive director of Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs, said he was disappointed that the county was going to move some of its major functions out of the downtown area. “Anytime we have jobs move out of downtown, it’s a bad thing.”

But Greene said that vacated buildings will be used to house other county departments.  “It’s going to balance out,” he said.

For example, components of the Sheriff’s Department, which are now scattered across several locations, will be consolidated and housed in the County Office Building, which is located at 27 E. Vermijo Ave.

And Centennial Hall, where the Clerk & Recorder’s Office is now located, will house the board of county commissioners, as well as county administrator, county attorney, budget and finance officials and the public affairs department.

Wayne Williams, one of the most fiscally conservative board members of the county commission, said it’s a good time for the county to buy because of the depressed real estate market.

“We need to take advantage of that and address some of our longterm problems,” he said.

WHO'S MOVING WHERE

The Corporate Ridge
Administration Building
(Part of former Intel plant, 1575 Garden of the Gods Road)
• Department of Health
• Department of Human Services
• Pikes Peak Workforce Center
• Clerk& Recorder
• Assessor
• Treasurer

County Office Building, 27 E. Vermijo Ave.
• Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Bureau
• Sheriff’s administration
• Sheriff’s training academy

Coroner’s Office, 2743 E. Las Vegas St.
• Administrative offices move into Sheriff’s training academy, at 2739 E. Las Vegas St.
• Pathology and autopsies remain in same location.