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TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ,,' `...-_-'' _:� CONTRA
COSTA
FROM: CAPITAL. FACILITIES COMMITTEE COUNTY
,.
DATE: OCTOBER 12, 2404 `c " �
M
SUBJECT: DISTRICT ATTORNEY HEADQUARTERS BUILDING
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION(S);
ACCEPT the report from the County Administrator (attached) regarding the proposed District Attorney
Headquarters Building and APPROVE the following recommendations:
1. DESIGNATE the site bounded by Ward, Court, Green, and Las Juntas Streets in Martinez
(exclusive of the space occupied by the Veteran's Memorial Building) as the preferred project site
for the future District Attorney Headquarters Building.
2. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator, or designee, to execute the second
amendment to the Consulting Services Agreement with Kava Massih Architects, increasing the
payment amount by $174,000 to a new payment limit of $343,750 for architectural services
related to the design development phase of District Attorney Headquarters Building Project.
3. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator, or designee, to execute the fourth
amendment to the Consulting Services Agreement with UIS Corporation, increasing the
payment amount by $78,000 to a new payment limit of $5610,214 for comprehensive project
management services related to the design development phase of the District Attorney
Headquarters Building Project.
4. DIRECT the County Administrator's Office to work with the District Attorney's Office and General
Services Department to refine the design of the proposed new building and seek to find
replacement tenants for the District Attorney's existing leased space in order to further reduce
new net County costs associated with the proposed project.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE:
k' RECOMMENDATION of COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR�RECt7� ENDATION OF BOARD COMITTEE
--A0PROVE _OTHER
SIGNATURE(S): ` J
ACTION OF BOA ON % 'k t " ':' "r t.. APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED 'OTHER
SPEAKER:ROLLIE KATZ, (P.E.B.) Local 1-P.O.BOX 222,Martinez,Ca
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
s I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A
_UNANIMOUS{ABSENT __~.- ` ) TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS QN THE DATE SHOWN.
Contact:Jason Crapo,335-1021
ATTESTED�3
JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS`
AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
cc: County Administrator
District Attorney
General Services Director
BY
5. DIRECT the County Administrator's Office, in coordination with the District Attorney's Office, to
make periodic progress reports to the Capital Facilities Committee with regards to the
development of the District Attorney Headquarters building in Martinez, including on-going
negotiations with the State regarding the transfer of 725 Court Street to the State, refined
project cost estimates and updates to the financing plan.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Funding for the design development phase of the proposed District Attorney Headquarters Building
will come from non-general fund revenues in an account designated for District Attorney facilities
projects. No general funds will be required.
BACKGROUND:
On September 20, 2004 the Capital Facilities Committee met to consider the report from the County
Administrator regarding the proposed District Attorney Headquarters Building. The proposed new
building would allow the District Attorney's Office to consolidate from overcrowded and inefficient
office space distributed across several locations in Martinez. The schematic design completed by
Kava Massif Architects shows that the needs of the District Attorney's Office can be met through
construction of a new 53,000 square foot office building on the County-owned site bound by Las
Juntas, Court, Green and Ward Streets in downtown Martinez(exclusive of the existing Veterans
Memorial Building), The Committee concurred with the staff recommendation to proceed to the
design development stage of the project. The Committee indicated its desire that the County
Administrator's Office, the District Attorney's Office and the General Services Department work
together to minimize the net County cost associated with the proposed project and that staff make a
progress report to the Committee at the completion of design development.
County of Contra Costa
Office of the County Administrator
MEMORANDUM
DATE: August 10, 2004
TO: Capital Facilities Committee of the Board of Supervisors
Supervisor Federal Glover
Supervisor Millie Greenberg
VIA: John Sweeten, County Administrator/s/
FROM: Laura Lockwood, Director, Capital Facilities and Debt Management/s/
SUBJECT: PROPOSED DISTRICT ATTORNEY HEADQUARTERS BUILDING
Recommendations
1. ACCEPT the report of lava Massih Architects recommending the consolidation
of the District Attorney's central Contra Costa County operations in a future
office building in downtown Martinez.
2. DESIGNATE the site bounded by Ward, Court, Green, and Las Juntas Streets in
Martinez (exclusive of the space occupied by the Veteran's Building) as the
preferred project site for the fixture District Attorney Headquarters Building.
3. DIRECT the County Administrator's Office, in coordination with the District
Attorney and the General Services Department, to negotiate amendments to the
consulting services agreements with Kava Massih Architects and URS
Corporation to begin the design development phase of the District Attorney
Headquarters building project, and to submit these amendments to the Board of
Supervisors for approval.
4. ACKNOWLEDGE that while the proposed financing plan for the District
Attorney's new office building attempts to minimize the use of General Fund
resources, there remains a substantial projected new net County cost associated
with fixture debt service on the building that will become an on-going new cost in
the District Attorney's baseline budget.
5. DIRECT the District Attorney's Office to work with the staff of the County
Administrator and General Services Department to refine the scope and design of
the new building and seek to find replacement tenants for the District Attorney's
existing leased space in order to further reduce new net County casts associated
with the District Attorney's new office building.
6. DIRECT the County Administrator's Office to make periodic progress reports to
the Capital Facilities Committee with regards to the development of the District
Attorney Headquarters building in Martinez, including on-going negotiations with
the State regarding the transfer of 725 Court Street to the State, refined project
cost estimates and updates to the financing plan.
`Over the last decade, the Office of the District Attorney has expanded its olierations into
multiple locations around Martinez in order to accommodate its increasing staff and
caseloads. The District Attorney's headquarters office on the 4h floor of the Old
Courthouse at 725 Court Street, Martinez, is overcrowded and marginally accessible to
the public. Additionally, it remains unclear how much longer the District Attorney's
office will be allowed to continue occupying space at 725 Court Street due to legislation
that would require the transfer of ownership of all County-owned court buildings to the
State of California.
In October 2002, the County Administrator's Office initiated a study with. Kava Massih
Architects to evaluate the feasibility of renovating the second floor of 1111 Ward Street
to provide additional space for the District Attorney's office. Kava Massih Architects'
investigation of the structural and mechanical systems for the Ward Street building
revealed that proposed tenant improvements were not financially feasible given the costs
associated with bringing the building up to current seismic code requirements. Based on.
these findings, minimal improvements were made to the second floor of 1111 Ward to
allow for ad-hoc meetings and the long-terrafile storage of the District Attorney's Office.
A different solution to the District Attorney's office space problem is needed.
Proceed Solution
On April 29, 2003, the Board of Supervisors authorized the District Attorney, in
coordination with the County Administrator's Office, to study the feasibility of a new
headquarters building in downtown Martinez. Subsequently, Kava Massih Architects
developed a space needs assessment, a site master plan and a schematic design for a new
office building that consolidates four separate offices into one new District Attorney
headquarters building adjacent to the courts in downtown Martinez.
Las Juntas, Court, Green, and Ward Streets bound the County-owned site identified for
the new building. Historically, both the County Assessor's Office and the Veteran's
Memorial Building were located on this block. The Assessor's Office recently completed
it's move from 834 Court Street to the Summit Center on Highway 4, leaving the
physically obsolete building at 834 Court virtually unoccupied except for long-term. file
storage and a small detention medical records unit. The proposed District Attorney
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Headquarters building would replace the Assessor's building with a 53,000 square foot
four-story office building, while leaving the 'veteran's Memorial wilding intact next
doer.
County staff has had preliminary discussions about the project with City of Martinez
officials and they are generally supportive of the concept. More work will be required,to
assure that adequate parking is provided with this project, as the plan envisions bringing
staff now housed at 10 Douglas Drive back into the parking-challenged downtown
Martinez area.
As currently envisioned, the proposed building would centrally house 1.65 District
Attorney employees and include offices for the Victim Witness program., the Juvenile
Unit, the Drug Unit, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Law and Motion, Information
Technology, a law library, Felony Three Strikes, Homicide, Welfare Fraud,
Administration, Special Operations, Auto Insurance Fraud, and Workman's
Compensation Fraud. The building would also house clerical and investigative staff.
Upon completion of the project, the District Attorney's office would vacate offices it now
leases at 627 Ferry Street, 1111 Ward Street(2d and 3r floors), and 10 Douglas Drive, as
well as County-owned space on the fourth floor of 725 Court Street.
Pr o ected Casts and Financial Impacts
Based on the schematic design prepared by Kava Massih Architects, the construction
management fine URS estimates a project cost of approximately $22.5 million, as
summarized below. This estimate assumes construction of the building will be
completed by mid-2007. A more complete breakout of project costs is presented in
Attachment I of this report.
Design Phase Costs $ 3,000,000
Construction Phase Costs 19,482,613
Total $ 22,482,613
Over the past several years, the District Attorney has accumulated $3.8 million in non-
general funds in a Plant Acquisition. Fund account for the preliminary development of
this project. In order to minimize the amount of lease revenue bonds ultimately needed to
finance this building project, the District Attorney proposes that the County utilize $2.5
million now in the Criminal Justice Facility Construction Fund and $1.5 million in
projected future Criminal Justice Facility Construction Fund receipts over the next three
fiscal years. The balance of$14.6 million in project costs would be funded with lease
revenue bund proceeds.
Attachment 11 presents the preliminary financing plan for this project, which includes the
assumption that the County would issue lease revenue bonds for the project in late 2005.
Given that occupancy would not occur until mid-2007, the bond financing has been sized
to also include one and a half years of capitalized interest, with the District Attorney's
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Office responsible for debt service payments on the 25-year bands out of its baseline
budget beginning in FY 2007-08.
In order to keep net County costs to a minimum on this project, the District Attorney
proposes using several funding streams ranging from $900,000 to $1,000,000 annually to
cover repayment on these bands,including;
* $500,000 in annually generated Criminal Justice Facility Construction.Funds
* $213,340 in annual operating budget savings created due to consolidation of four
offices into one centralized location, and
* $2.25,000 to $375,000 in annual occupancy cost savings that the County would
realize upon vacating several leased anchor debt financed facilities in Martinez
The financing plan recognizes that the range of occupancy cast savings generated will
depend on the County's ability to find replacement tenants for existing District
Attorney's space. For example, the plan assumes the County will be able to vacate leased
space at 649 Main Street now occupied by Court Administration once the District
Attorney vacates the e floor of 725 Court Street and that CCTV will expand into the
District Attorney's space at 10 Douglas Drive.
It may prove more difficult to find replacement tenants for other District Attorney
facilities for which the County has on-going financial responsibilities, however. The
lease at 627 Ferry Street, which will cost the County approximately $100,000 per year by
FY 2007-08, does not expire until February 2011. Should the County be unsuccessful in
finding a replacement tenant for this space, this rent would remain an obligation of the
District Attorney until the expiration of the lease in 2011.
Given the physical obsolescence of the 1111 Ward Street building., the County
Administrator's office would not recommend relocating employees to this facility unless
absolutely necessary. It may be possible to use the vacated space as a long-term records
storage center,however. In any case, the $42,635 in annual debt service costs associated
with a previous renovation of the 3rd floor of 1111 Ward Street for the District
Attorney's office will continue as a County obligation for many years to come, regardless
whether the space is occupied or not.
Use of Current and Future Criminal Justice FaciliL. , Construction Funds
Under State lav,the Criminal Justice Facility Construction Fund (CJFC)was created for
the purpose of assisting aunties in the"construction,reconstruction, expansion,
improvement, operation, or maintenance of county criminal justice and court facilities
and for improvement of criminal justice automated infonnation systems." These criminal
justice facilities include,but are not limited to,jails,women's centers, detention facilities,
juvenile halls, and courtrooms. The District Attorney's new headquarters building
appears to fit within the definition of purposes for which the fund was created.
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Other Considerations
This preliminary financing plan makes no assumption about upcoming negotiations with
the State of California regarding the ultimate use of the 4`h floor of the 725 Court Street
building. Under the court transfer legislation, the State is required to reimburse counties
for their equity interest in any county-owned, non-court space that the State takes title to
as part of the transfer process. As the rules and methodology regarding the court transfer
process unfold, it may be possible to incorporate a State payment for the County's equity
interest in the 4t' floor space that now houses the Office of the District Attorney. This
would allow for an equivalent reduction in the amount of lease revenue bonds ultimately
issued for this project and in turn reduce debt service and net County costs associated
with this project. The ability of the State to effectuate the actual transfer of court
facilities in the near future is uncertain and so, too, is the possible equity payment. `
Next Stezrs
Should the Board of Supervisor approve the recommendations in this report, County staff
is prepared to begin working with Kava Massih and URS on the design development
phase of the project. At the completion of the design development phase, a more refined
cost estimate will be completed by URS and the proposed financing plan will be modified
to reflect (a) County staffs success in finding replacement tenants for existing District
Attorney facilities in Martinez and (b) the outcome of negotiations with the State
regarding transfer of title to the State for 725 Court Street.
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