The state has given up trying to reach a deal to continue leasing the “Plywood Palace,” home of the Department of Labor & Workforce Development, and will move to a new location as soon as this summer, officials said.
The state Department of Administration ended negotiations with the Juneau 1, LLC, the building’s owner, on a new lease and will soon seek bids on replacement space, said Vern Jones, state procurement officer.
He said Juneau 1 wanted the state to commit to 10 years in the troubled building, while the state sought to extend its stay there for just a few years while it explored its options.
The state has twice in recent years considered and rejected plans for building new office space to house employees.
Jones said the current lease ends June 30. He acknowledged there would not be time to find, lease and move into new space by then.
“It’s going to take us a little more time than that,” he said.
State contracts allow for extended stays in such instances, he said. It may take a few months past the end of the lease, he said.
The current building is about 68,000 square feet, but Jones said he didn’t yet know what size space the state would be seeking.
A request for proposals is currently being drafted, he said.
All the employees may not even be moved to the same building, he said, although that was the state’s preference.
There appears to be adequate office space in Juneau to absorb the building’s employees and it is even possible it will get a good deal, Jones said
“We’re hoping to get a very competitive rate,” he said.
The Plywood Palace is located at the downtown end of the Juneau-Douglas Bridge on Eighth Street. It is about 30 years old, and has been plagued with water infiltration and mold problems, according to state reports.
Employees have said they have suffered numerous ill effects from the mold, with some so severe they were unable to continue to work there.
Members of the Juneau legislative delegation praised the decision to move employees out of the building, and said they’d continue to push for a new state office building downtown.
State officials had spent substantial time attempting to negotiate a lease extension with the building’s owners, negotiations that included using a mediator.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (23)
Add commentPerfect timing
Let the state lease JDHS for office space, go back to one high school, solve lots of problems!
About time! We were paying a
About time! We were paying a ridiculous amount for that dump.
pinch me !
Pinch me and wake me up, i must be dreaming !
New office in the Valley !
New Office in the Valley !
A little common sense?
Procure land and build as close as possible to the largest group of employees? Be that the valley or where ever.
Finally! Finally!!
Someone got their head out of a dark place and made the right decision! Hooray!! Now make another wise decision and build them a new building with PLENTY of parking in the valley! Oh, and my little prayer ... may Juneau 1 LLC go broke throwing money down a hole.
Seawalk?
Didnt the City eventually want that property for the expansion of the Seawalk? So the question now is how much is the City going to pay for the mold-invested building or will it be condemned and torn down, like it should have been years ago. Im happy for the employees in that building, its a shame they had to work in those conditions for as long as they did.
Fish and Game Building
I don't know who oversees these contracts for office space in Juneau, but it would be nice if the state procurement officer for the ADFG building next to Dept of Labor would walk thru the Fish and Game building. This building is consistently dirty and equally poorly maintained.
I simply do not understand why the state does not invest in appropriate office space in Juneau.
Those poor people - I'm happy
Those poor people - I'm happy for them that they will finally get to work in a building free of mold. I use to have to go in there to deliver airline tickets once or twice a week, and just that small exposure would set off my MCS symptoms - migraine, nausea, etc.... I don't know how they stood it for this long.
If the city wants the
If the city wants the property for the seawalk, the smart thing to do would be to wait until after the owners realize no one wants to rent their dump, they go bankrupt, and then we buy it for a song. Instead the city will buy it for millions since its owned by someones relative/friend/neighbor...
another thought.....
The state could save a ton of money by letting those people from that DOL building telecommute. With today's technology it is very doable.
Why can't I find an Corporate
Why can't I find an Corporate Entity listing for Juneau 1, lLC?? Are they a legal and registered LLC?? If not why is the state even doing business with them to begin with!
Corporate Identity
Just checking the original lease from 1982--- owner's listed at Blomfield. There still is a Bloomfield Group LLC that owns property in Juneau and Anchorage. Check that out.... I am not saying that I know.... just what I found. I wrote a comment earlier and it did not post, so if this is a duplicate, sorry.
Let's give credit where it's due.
The Parnell administration and especially the Department of Administration should be recognized for being willing to re-evaluate what they had previously decided and go a very different direction. That isn't the norm in government; not CBJ, not the Obama White House, etc. etc. So we should all thank this administration for taking another look, listening to employees, and not being dragged down by decisions and press releases of the past. If we don't give credit when it's due then we less right to expect good government.
Good news
Another property owner thinking they can hold the State hostage learned they could not. Lases with the State are pretty lucrative. When the owner prefers to lose a rental rather than being competitive the loose not the State.
In response to Spadeshovel
I found them on the Commerce website, but they listed them with the roman numeral "1" as "I", and so they didn't appear until the middle of the list.
Here is the link to the current license details - http://commerce.alaska.gov/CBP/Main/CorporationDetail.aspx?id=64470D
Interesting numbers...
The state is paying Juneau 1 LLC $163,00 a month in rent for that building.. I'd think they have recouped their investment! that's the total rent for the 3 Dept of Labor buildings.
All the properties rented by the State to Juneau 1 totals close to $260,000.. so this may hurt them a bit, unless the plan is to tear the building down and build a new one so they can re-rent it to the state for $250k a month ^_^
info at KINY website
indicates the reason for breakdown in talks was the terms of the lease, 5 vs 10 years, they dont state mold issues were part of that. It also says that the current lease owner wouldnt be barred from competing for the new lease.....so maybe this isnt a done deal afterall and any "thanks" to Administration may be premature.
Get out
It amazes me how some slumlord like the LLC1 can charge the state an exorbitant amount of $$ for rent with a dilapated building. Who oversees state leases? If $163K is correct, someone should be accountable. We wonder why we lose jobs to Anchorage. This whole scenario reminds me of Obama's green energy programs. A huge payout at taxpayer expense with nothing in return.
We can really save money by
We can really save money by abolishing the DOL !
I think we would also see a increase in private sector employment.
Madison@ I hope you are only suggesting............
that they tear down the DOL BUILDING? I think it is rude and offensive to suggest that DOL workers are a bunch of slackers and private sector could do a better job. They work VERY hard on some of the most complex programs in the state. It would be a cold day in hell if private sector could do as good a job as they do. I have never seen such a dedicated group of people as those that work for DOL. You should really stay on topic, the job they do is not in question, it is the sick building they are being forced to work in that is the issue.
glacierdog....
it ain't over till the fat lady sings...........
I wouldn't say they
broke the mold.
There are other buildings
There are other buildings leased by the State that aren't much better.
The one high school idea is a good one. Lease out JDHS to the State and consolidate the high schools.