Port Authority urged to move to less-expensive office space The Port Authority could save money by moving out of rented office space in the Heinz 57 Center, Downtown, and going back to its partly vacant former administration building in Manchester, state Auditor General Jack Wagner said.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Port Authority urged to move to less-expensive office space
Jack opens up a new front in the war against PAT.
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Port Authority urged to move to less-expensive office space
Friday, February 02, 2007
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Port Authority could save money by moving out of rented office space in the Heinz 57 Center, Downtown, and going back to its partly vacant former administration building in Manchester, state Auditor General Jack Wagner said.
At a news conference yesterday, he urged the authority to cancel its lease, saying his agency determined the cost to be $7.8 million for rent and $7.7 million for renovations and furnishings as part of a 10-year deal.
He also claimed the cash-strapped agency is paying for parking for "executive management" that was free at the Manchester building.
Mr. Wagner said he called attention to the lease now as a "significant interim matter" that came up as part of a comprehensive, long-range audit of authority spending.
"It is unconscionable that management would continue to lease prime space at taxpayer expense that is unnecessary," he said in a statement. "Your fiscal crisis requires that immediate steps be taken."
Port Authority spokesman Bob Grove said a return to Manchester has been under consideration.
He said the authority has estimated the move would cost $8 million -- $4.3 million for repairs and renovations to the Manchester building and $3.7 million for the remaining 3 1/2 years on its Heinz lease "unless we could find someone to sublet to. Given the Downtown office vacancy rates, we're not sure that's very likely."
The authority leases the entire third floor and part of the fifth floor of the Heinz 57 Center. The administrative and nonunion staff moved there more than six years ago for what was then a lack of space in Manchester and to put employees closer to transit, riders and people with whom they work.
Last year's rent was $835,000.
Mr. Grove said the authority has 17 reserved parking spaces, 13 for pool cars shared by staff and four for administrators, including construction and operations managers who often need to go on the road. The authority doesn't pay for the spaces but, in exchange, employees do cleanup around the First Avenue T station that's part of the First Avenue Parking Garage.
The Post-Gazette reported in November that authority officials were contemplating a return to Manchester for long-term cost-savings in light of recurring budget crises.
The five-story building in Manchester, at Beaver and Island avenues, was built in 1972 at a cost of $9 million, most of it coming from the federal government. It contains a parking deck and a sprawling ground-floor garage that houses the main bus repair, major overhaul and repair shops, with 165 employees.
About 100 treasury, technology and training personnel use the office space, but about two-thirds of the remaining space is vacant. Efforts to lease the space to private interests have failed.
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