Metro headquarters building purchase nears OK

Clark County, following through on a deal made in 2008, is expected Tuesday to finalize the purchase of the Metropolitan Police Department’s new headquarters from the owner for about $208 million.

The move will save county taxpayers $248.2 million in future leasing costs tied to the 27-year agreement between the developer and the county.

Metro officials settled into the 373,327-square-foot complex in 2011, which allowed them to put all of their key personnel and offices in the same location at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alta Drive.

County commissioners will vote Tuesday on a proposal to buy the complex from HQ Metro, the limited liability company that owns the property through a partnership with Mark L. Fine &Associates. Under the proposal, the three-building complex would cost $205 million and another $3.3 million in other fees and costs, or $208.3 million total.

The county entered into the 27-year agreement with the developers for the construction and long-term lease of the facility in 2008. It costs nearly $1.09 million a month to lease the complex from the owners, and the money comes from the budget of the Metro, which subleases the space.

Under the plan proposed, Metro would continue to make lease payments to the county, which would go toward paying off the cost of the purchase.

“This was a difficult negotiation, but in the end, this is a good deal for the taxpayers,” County Manager Don Burnette said.

In about 16 years, the county’s cost of the purchase would be paid off from the lease payments received from Metro’s budget. The county estimates that about $248.2 million would be saved in costs that otherwise would have gone toward the monthly payments for the rest of the original 27-year lease term with the developer. The lease payments would have increased 2 percent annually over the life of the lease.

“The county’s in the position to be able to buy out the building, so I think the taxpayer will benefit,” said County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, also a member of the Metropolitan Police Committee on Fiscal Affairs.

Officials first planned the project as a way to centralize much of the department, including detective bureaus, records and fingerprinting. The headquarters has a main building with the sheriff’s office and other administrative offices.

The other two buildings have other services and bureaus.

Sheriff Doug Gillespie said the goal of the county purchasing the property was at the forefront of planning the agreement for the facility, and this is the first opportunity in the agreement for the purchase.

Before the new complex opened, Las Vegas police operated out of the old Las Vegas City Hall, which the city vacated when the new City Hall opened in 2012. Gillespie said the new location has worked out well in putting different areas of the department in the same complex.

“I believe it’s exceeded anyone’s expectations,” Gillespie said.

Under the agreement reached with the developer, the county had the option to buy the property after three years for either $167.4 million or fair market value, whichever is larger. However, county officials and the developer were unable to agree on what the fair market value was after eight months of negotiations.

The price tag in the proposed agreement is a compromise. Without an agreement to purchase the building, the issue of the building’s value would have gone before an arbitrator for a decision in October.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.