In split vote, commission poised to pay $10 million for new county office building
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
The Courthouse Square office building is on the right and the Crossroads Center is at left in this view from the intersection of North Franklin and West Beau streets.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
This model of the Washington County justice center complex shows the Courthouse Square office building at the upper center.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
A metal plaque outside the Courthouse Square public meeting rooms shows that the building turned 40 this year.
One might say Washington County government is at a Crossroads.
Or it will be sometime next year: at the Crossroads Center, North Franklin and West Beau streets, just across the street from its home for the last 40 years, the Courthouse Square office building.
Two of three county commissioners are ready to spend $10 million on the property across the street and handle a move by county personnel next year.
A closing date has not yet been chosen.
“We’re paying for it directly. It won’t be financed,” said Commission Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan.
She and fellow Republican Commissioner Nick Sherman are both advocates for buying the newer office building, built about a dozen years ago by Lucas and the late Jack Piatt for LandAmerica title insurance group. When the Great Recession hit, LandAmerica left, but the Piatts approached the commissioners about repurposing the building for county offices.
The Social Security office, a federal Veterans’ Affairs primary health care clinic and state Sen. Camera Bartolotta are current, government tenants and Irey Vaughan and Sherman are interested in keeping. Leases of private tenants will be reviewed as they expire.
Washington County will be using money from the 2017 sale of the health center in Arden, Chartiers Township, to foot the bill for the purchase.
About $17 million was set aside after the transaction with Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia became the owner of Washington County Health Center.
The approximately $27 million transaction with Premier was completed in December 2017.
From the proceeds from the sale of health center, the liabilities of the health center included but are not limited to legal services, close-out services for sale of the property, workers’ compensation, unemployment, compensation and a $5 million contribution to the county’s Other Post-Employment Benefits trust account, according to Joshua Hatfield, Washington County finance director.
Irey Vaughan and Sherman brought up the possible purchase of the Crossroads Center over the summer, with the county making an undisclosed offer in August.
Assuming the sale goes through as planned, Irey Vaughan said she expects Courthouse Square to be empty within six months of the closing. The vacant office building, an example of the brutalist style of architecture, is to be demolished and held in reserve for future expansion of county facilities.
John Haynes, Washington County chief of staff, said the 60,000 square feet available in the Crossroads Center equals the usable space in Courthouse Square, which measures 70,000 square feet.
The Crossroads Center, he said, has flexible space, but Courthouse Square is compartmentalized, which limits its use, he said.
“The issue we have with this building is the pyrite underneath it,” Commissioner Nick Sherman said after an agenda discussion meeting was adjourned Wednesday morning. “We don’t want to spend taxpayer’s dollars and find the same problem. We’ve done the studies (on the Crossroads Center) and found that’s not going to be an issue.”
During the agenda discussion, Commission Vice Chairman Larry Maggi was the lone dissenting voice regarding the purchase of the Crossroads Center.
“I think my colleagues are doing what they think is the right thing,” said Maggi, the sole Democrat on the three-member board. “I just have a concern,” Maggi continued. “We’re in a pandemic, and we’re going to spend millions of dollars? We’re working remotely now. We have offices empty up and down the hallway here. Is that the way it’s going to be in the future?”
He called the purchase “growing county government” because the Crossroads Center will likely require additional cleaning staff and additional security personnel.
He also questioned the county’s role as landlord or real estate manager for private businesses that are tenants in the Crossroads Center.
Maggi disputed the millions of dollars quoted in a report to repair Courthouse Square and its parking garage, saying he thinks the foundation could be stabilized for less than $1 million.
Although there are no immediate plans to enlarge the county jail, it has been known for years that no additional floors can be added to the top of the correctional facility, built in 1995, for example.