City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 4, 2022
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Lease Between the City and Graboyes Family Trust for Warehouse Space at 4000 Wheeler Avenue for Public Safety Training
BODY
ISSUE: Consideration of a lease agreement between the City of Alexandria and Graboyes Family Trust for warehouse/office space located at 4000 Wheeler Avenue for the public safety training.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council authorize the execution by the City Manager of a lease agreement substantially in conformance with the attached Letter of Intent between the City of Alexandria and Graboyes Family Trust for 25,234 square feet of warehouse/office space located at 4000 Wheeler Avenue for public safety training.
BACKGROUND: For over a decade, the owners of Landmark Mall provided the Alexandria Police Department (APD) decommissioned retail space to utilize for training at no charge. With the redevelopment of Landmark Mall, the space is scheduled to be demolished and the APD was asked to vacate the space by the end of calendar year 2021. This training space allowed the APD to effectively plan and execute mandated and other training, much of which is driven by policy and The Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) standards. Without the replacement of this space, the APD will no longer be able to easily and consistently provide mandated training.
DISCUSSION: Based on the need to find another facility to conduct mandatory and necessary training and the facility requirements to accommodate this training, staff identified 25,234 square feet of warehouse/office space at 4000 Wheeler Avenue. The space was evaluated by APD staff and was deemed to have all of the same capabilities of the previous space and meets all of the requirements for APD training. In addition, the space is less than one mile from the APD Headquarters building located at 3600 Wheeler Avenue.
The proposed lease agreement for this space would include an initial term of five (5) years with the option to renew for two additional terms of five (5) years each unless terminated by either party. The base rate will be $10.25 per square foot with an escalation of three (3) percent per year and 60 days of rent abatement at the beginning of the lease term. The landlord will provide for all tenant improvements including restroom renovations, parking lot improvements, recarpeting of the office and lobby spaces, repainting walls, and providing other fixtures as required. At 25,234 square feet, the rent is estimated to be $258,640 per year plus an additional $65,000 for utilities and maintenance costs. The landlord will reimburse the City for 13 percent of the pro-rated share of the monthly utility costs.
Total expenditures related to this space for the remainder of FY 2022 is approximately $141,000. Staff recommends funding the FY 2022 lease costs in the APD operating budget utilizing forecasted year-end savings and use the additional CIP funding that was set aside to build a tactical training space for the build out costs.
The APD estimates that it will be utilizing this space approximately 20 days per month, 12 hours per day and based on past practices will also allow other local law enforcement partners to have some ability to utilize the space as well. The City could recover as much as $67,000 from fees that will be charged for the use of this facility by law enforcement partners.
Currently, there are no readily available options for APD training space. The police academy does not provide this type of training environment nor do any partner jurisdictions possess the facilities to provide the frequency or volume of training required to train an entire police department. Staff recommends leasing of the subject warehouse/office facility for the five (5) year term with the two (2) additional five (5) year options to allow staff time to continue to seek and identify better, more long-term options that meet the applicable training program mandates.
FISCAL IMPACT: Total expenditures related to this leased warehouse/office space at 4000 Wheeler Avenue will be approximately $350,000 per year including rent, utilities and maintenance costs. Total expenditures for the remainder of FY 2022 is approximately $141,000 including rent, utilities, and other facility maintenance which would be funded in APD operating budget utilizing forecasted year-end savings. Costs in FY 2023 and in future fiscal years would be considered as part of the operating budget. There will be a savings in that about $275,000 in planned CIP costs for tactical training space for APD that can be removed from the planned CIP.
ATTACHMENT:
Lease Letter of Intent for Proposed Lease Between City of Alexandria and Graboyes Family Trust
STAFF:
Joanna Anderson, City Attorney
Laura B. Triggs, Deputy City Manager
Donald Hayes, Acting Police Chief
Jeremy McPike, Director, General Services
Edward Miner, Lieutenant, APD
Shawn Lassiter, Assistant City Attorney
Alfred Coleman, Deputy Director, General Services
Brenda D’Sylva, Fiscal Division Chief, APD