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Board authorizes notice of intent to purchase Brickway campus; debate over access, cost and county presence at airport business park
Summary
The Board authorized publication of a statutory notice of intent to purchase the Brickway buildings at the Airport Business Center, beginning a statutorily required notice period and setting up a return to the board for a potential purchase and sale agreement.
The Board of Supervisors authorized staff to publish a notice of intent to purchase the Brickway campus at the Airport Business Center and said staff will return in early May to present a potential purchase and sale agreement and related due diligence. The vote initiated the three‑week (and in this case, staff said, extended) public notice period required under the Government Code for the contemplated acquisition.
Why it matters: Public Infrastructure staff said acquiring Brickway could materially reduce the county's per‑employee capital cost versus building new county facilities on the existing campus. Staff presented a roadmap that would combine a new County Government Center on the existing campus with purchase of off‑campus space to accommodate approximately 1,700 employees while addressing deferred maintenance on aging county buildings. Staff said Brickway could house about 525 employees; 400 Aviation (a separate property discussed in the packet but delayed for FPPC reasons) could take another roughly 400 employees; the proposed County Government Center would accommodate additional campus employees.
Costs cited by staff: public infrastructure's initial estimates showed a Brickway purchase price of $32 million; staff said tenant improvements would be roughly $15 million and estimated total financing costs (as used in staff's comparative calculations) would bring the financed amount to about $70 million. Staff also presented an illustrative 20‑year total cost figure that included tenant improvements, operations and Maintenance and the estimated loss of property tax revenue; that total was presented as roughly $131.1 million over 20 years for the Brickway branch of the plan (staff noted many assumptions are involved and that figures are estimates).
Board and public concern: Supervisors and members of the public raised questions about access and equity (moving vital services such as the Registrar of Voters farther from Santa Rosa's population center), the effect on vehicle miles traveled and climate impacts, comparative cost transparency, and the scope of staff outreach to commercial brokers and building owners. Labor representatives (SEIU 1021) urged the board not to approve the purchase notice and instead to publish an open solicitation to allow brokers, owners and cities to propose alternatives; they said the Brickway buildings require substantial retrofits, include parking constraints, and would concentrate county presence at the airport business park where the county already leases numerous facilities.
Staff and counsel response: Public Infrastructure said staff has reviewed roughly 22 candidate properties and remain open to other options; staff said many market properties are leased and not for sale, and several earlier options were unsuitable due to circulation, parking, flood risk or lease encumbrances. Deputy County Counsel Jeremy Fonseca explained the notice of intent step is a statutory publication: staff will publish the notice (minimum three weeks), continue negotiations and return to the board in early May to request authority to sign a purchase and sale agreement and then perform due diligence before any final board decision to close.
Vote and next steps: The board authorized the notice of intent to purchase by roll-call (one no vote, one recusal). Staff will publish the statutory notice, continue market outreach and negotiations, complete due diligence if a purchase and sale agreement is signed, and return to the Board with a recommended purchase and sale agreement and final decision.
Public record and follow-up requests: Supervisors asked staff to provide a GIS map of where county employees are currently located, a comparison of lease costs and expiration dates for county‑leased facilities, and broader outreach to commercial brokers and cities to discover other viable properties. Staff said they will meet with unions and employees and present the budget implications of purchase vs. build options in upcoming budget workshops.
