COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY AND PUBLIC WORKS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, May 12, 1998 9:30 a.m. - - - BILL NO. 970743 - Authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID"), without consideration, a deed conveying fee simple title to a certain tract of City-owned land, with the buildings and improvements thereon, situated on the northeast side of 70th Street, south of Lindbergh Boulevard, under and subject to the terms and conditions of the Philadelphia Industrial and Commercial Development Agreement between the City, PAID, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. BILL NO. 980225 - authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to enter into a sublease agreement with the Philadelphia Municipal Authority for use by the City and affiliated agencies of office space located at 100 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under and subject to certain terms and conditions. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA A. CLARK, Chair COUNCILWOMAN ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 I N D E X Bill No. 970743 Paul Deegan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development Commissioner Andres Perez, Jr. . . . . . . . 6 Department of Public Property Peter Shaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Partner, P&A Associates Bill No. 980225 Commissioner Andres Perez, Jr. . . . . . . . 11 Department of Public Property Tom Kramer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Smith Mack & Company 3 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Committee on Public Property and Public Works is now convened, a quorum of committee members being present. Would the record please reflect that present at the table are Councilman Rizzo, Councilwoman Anna Verna, Councilman Michael Nutter, Councilman James Kenney, and myself, the Chair, Councilwoman Augusta Clark. Would the clerk please read the first bill before us.
Bill No. 970743, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID"), without consideration, a deed conveying fee simple title to a certain tract of City-owned land, with the buildings and improvements thereon, situated on the northeast side of 70th Street, south of Lindbergh Boulevard, under and subject to the terms and conditions of the Philadelphia Industrial and Commercial Development Agreement between the City, PAID, and the Philadelphia 4 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 Industrial Development Corporation.
Good morning. Paul Deegan, Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, and I'm here to testify in support of Bill No. 970743. This bill is for the City to convey a 15,000-square-foot parcel of land on South 70th Street to PAID. And when it's conveyed to PAID, it will be sold to P&A Associates, the owner of the adjacent industrial property, which is the former side of a warehouse. P&A intends to develop a portion of the existing property with CVS Pharmacy, and the City-owned property will be needed for parking and access. The City acquired the property in the 1970s as part of the Airport High-Speed Line, and the Department of Public Property has declared the land to be excess to the City's needs and available for sale. The sales price will be $97,500 based 5 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 on two independent real estate appraisals obtained by PIDC. And the net proceeds from the sale will be deposited in the City's General Fund. I should point out that the owners of the side of the warehouse, the previous owners. Already had an easement over this property, so it has been used for access to the main property for many years, but the new development requires that the easement be owned in fee by the landlord. And that's why we're here today. I ask that the committee consider bill 13 favorably and that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at the next regularly scheduled meeting of Council. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. And Mr. Peter Shaw and Mr. Allen Kasnoff (ph.) of P&A Associates are present in the chambers if you have any questions of the developer.
Good morning, Commissioner. 6 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Good morning, Councilwoman Clark and members of the Public Property Committee. I'm Andres Perez, Jr., Commissioner of the Department of Public Property. I'm here to just offer testimony in support of the passage of the bill and the suspension of the rules, with a favorable consideration.
Thank you very much. Are there questions by members of the committee? (No questions.)
Mr. Deegan, were there any other potential purchasers for the land? And if so, why were they not chosen?
We weren't aware of any other interest in the property. As I said, the property has been used as part of the larger side of the warehouse property for many years. And if you go down there and look at it, it's indistinguishable from the rest of the property. The property owners already have an easement for vehicular access over the property, so they had been using it for many years. It's kind of a strip of land along 70th Street right 7 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 before you go over the railroad towards Essington Avenue. And there wouldn't be any -- because of its size, thousand square feet, and its 6 configuration and its location on this property, I 7 don't think there would be any other reasonable 8 use other than for the adjacent property owner. 9
Are there any 10 actual or potential environmental liability 11 exposures or claims associated with the property? 12 And if so, what remediation has or will occur? 13
I'm not aware of any 14 environmental problems. I expect that the buyer 15 will perform their own environmental study. And I really doubt that there would be since the property essentially has been used for years for parking and vehicular access to the warehouse.
We're all interested in the creation of jobs, Mr. Deegan. How many new jobs have been created with the opening of the CVS Pharmacy? And are there any other economic development projects under consideration for this property? 8 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743
I think maybe the developer could better address the number of jobs and what his plans are. He is developing the commercial use at this end of the site, but the rest of the property will also be used for warehouse and distribution-type type uses, so if I could yield the microphone.
Good morning. My name is Peter Shaw. I'm a partner in P&A Associates. And one of our partnership associates -- 6900 Lindbergh Boulevard -- is developing this property. There will be new jobs as a result 17 of this CVS Pharmacy. 18 It may be of note -- interesting for 19 Council to note that the Eastwick Area PAC has 20 unanimously endorsed this project because they 21 believe that probably most of the employees in the 22 CVS are going to come from the neighborhood, and 23 there is a fair amount of unemployment in the 24 naked. And you may or may not know, but we 9 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL NO. 970743 bought this Silo property two years ago, and now it's completely full. That 250,000 square feet of warehouses and the CVS store. And it has added considerably to the employment in this neighborhood. So I think everybody feels it's sort of a win-win proposition.
Okay. Thank you very much. Are there any other questions by any other members of the committee? Councilwoman Verna, it's your bill.
No. I can tell you that I did hear from the Eastwick PAC, and they are in favor of this bill.
Okay. Thank you very much. Are there other persons present in the room who wish to be heard in favor of or against this bill? If so, please indicate. (No response.)
Assuming the Chair, the record will show that the call was given, and no one indicated willingness to speak. 10 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 All minds are clear with respect to the committee members? The record should also reflect that we have been joined at the table by Councilmember Donna Miller. Thank you, gentlemen.
The clerk will now read the second bill before the committee.
Bill No. 980225, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to enter into a sublease agreement with the Philadelphia Municipal Authority for use by the City and affiliated agencies of office space located at 100 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under and subject to certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Good morning. Please introduce yourself to the record, spell your name for benefit of the stenographer, and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Good morning, 11 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 Councilwoman Clark. My name is Andres Perez, A-N-D-R-E-S, P-E-R-E-Z, Commissioner of the Department of Public Property. Present with me is Mr. Albert Phelan from the Law Department, principal negotiator of the lease document. I'm here today to testify in support of Bill No. 980225 that was introduced on April 8, 1988 -- 98 authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City, to enter into sublease agreement with the Philadelphia Municipal Authority for use by the City and affiliated agencies of office space located at 100 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under and subject to certain terms and conditions. The building is also known as the "Land Title Building." This is a sublease of a lease between a limited partnership and the Philadelphia Municipal Authority for the third, fourth, fifth and a portion of the sixth floors of the building located at 100 South Broad Street. I request that the rules be suspended so the ordinance may be passed upon the first 12 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 reading of Council. I respectfully ask that Council approve of Bill No. 980225. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may.
Thank you very much. Councilman Rizzo has indicated a need to speak.
Thank you, Madame Chair. Commissioner, just to go back over some of our earlier conversation during the budget process. When you had the committee that was considering office consolidation you, moved forward and purchased One Parkway. At that time, it sounded as though there wasn't going to be any additional rental space required. The purpose of buying One Parkway is to get out of all these leases and to move the folks into the One Parkway building. Could you identify the departments that are going to move into the Land Title Building and why you now need that space when, apparently, One Parkway was supposed to be the resolution to all 13 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 of this leasing problem? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Councilman, the departments that are scheduled to go into 100 South Broad Street is the City's Fleet Management Agency; the Tax Review Board; the Targeted Assistance Program of the Managing Director's Office; the Mayor's Commission on Aging, the Sheriff's Office; and Women Against Abuse, which is affiliated -- for many years, has been physically co-located with the Sheriff's Office; the Regional Film Office. And some of the space will be common conference space, some small amount of space, for the various City agencies in the building. To the second part of your question, the precedent studies that led up to what we're referring to as the "Center City space consolidation" go back to 1988, the most recent being Council's study commissioned to examine the issue once again, I believe in 1992. In both instances, recommendations were made, all of which we've substantially completed. But one observation and one recommendation was that don't assume that the big deal, the big 14 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 building we buy or the large space we offer, we rent will take care of 100 percent of the problem.
Right. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: That there will also be a to percent, if not higher, flux in 7 space needs, which can't be locked and shouldn't 8 be locked into 20-, 30-year leases. 9 So the recommendation to the 10 Administration and to the Department was, 11 regardless of what we do, we are going to have 12 small amounts of space and changing space 13 requirements that do not lend themselves to being 14 locked in for 20-year terms. 15 The other aspect to it actually resulted from the site selection process that we went through. We did get through a -- rather to a short list of buildings, and the two best choices were a building which had a 150,000 more square feet than we needed, or One Parkway, which was about 75 to 100,000 square feet short of the entire load. Also, we were very mindful of timing and the long-term view. We were at a point where we had to make a choice. The decision was made to 15 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 take the smaller building. It was also considered to be more economical on a square-foot basis, but it was smaller. We would fill it up and we would still need 75,000 to 100,000 square feet to accommodate agencies that didn't need to be co-located with any of our other clusters of space. This is the net -- the net result is that we've got two clusters, one going into 100 South Broad Street and one going into 990 Spring Garden, which will be, hopefully, presented to Council very shortly.
My final question to you, Commissioner, is the concern for the use of City Hall, this building. And, again, during the budget process, I asked the question, Do we have a master plan, we have a plan for exactly how we plan to occupy this building? It's very difficult to explain to the taxpayers of this city that we have this massive building here and it is so, in many people's opinion, underutilized. I understand that this is a building that's very difficult to utilize for 16 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 office space, but I would hope that in the future that there is some plan to utilize this building with all of this empty space in it. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: We do expect -- we do expect that the building will be substantially occupied. We will still have some upper-elevation floor spaces which -- which are not -- not very useful, maybe even for dead storage. But modern code for dead storage would require millions of dollars of improvements. But the office areas of the building, we do expect, should be substantially occupied. And the courts have been in a process for several years now of moving from -- continuing to move from their rented spaces into available spaces in the building. The repair of the building. The plan or the approach to the repair of the building has dramatically shifted from the fix-everything-a- quadrant-at-a-time approach over ten to fifteen years to focussing on key elements that are degrading quicker than we had anticipated; most notably, the roof. In the past two years, we've had tremendous problems with water seepage in 17 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 various portions of the building. And the plan is really redirected to getting the building's main elements as promptly as possible and no longer oriented toward the general redesign and renovation of all spaces in the building.
Commissioner, just before I recognize Mr. Kenny, just to tack onto your last comment, the plan for this building. Is there a plan to paint the rusty exterior just before the William Penn improvements? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes. We referred to that -- you probably have seen it in the capital plan references as the cresting, City Hall cresting. That iron work is engineered into the roof. The roof and the iron work and associated supports are fairly well integrated to the point where if we touch one, we must deal with the other. And so the water problem is going to force us to attack the roof and the associated cresting in the parts of roof which have 18 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 higher-priority requirements.
Do you have an idea of a date when you're going to get started on the cresting? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. As a matter of fact, we've had to send a (unintelligible) team back to the drawing boards when the latest problems developed. We do hope in the next few weeks to have an approximate schedule worked out and some new calculations on cost.
Thank you. This seems a diversion from Land Title Building, but it was a good opportunity to discuss something that's happening with this building presently. Mr. Kenney.
Thank you, Madame Chairwoman. Commissioner, during the course of selecting 100 South Broad, and in your testimony, also the 900 block of Spring Garden Street. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: 990 Spring Garden.
990 Spring Garden Street. What search process or evaluation process 19 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 is employed? I mean, my standing today is we have a lot of office space throughout the City. And I'm wondering what exactly was undertaken to determine that this was the most effective and best price and location that we could receive. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: I believe following my departmental testimony, we had received those questions and had provided some information and responses. But in brief, it was a parallel initiative between the Department -- or I should say the Real Estate Task Force's use of the Binswanger Company, as well as a parallel effort by the staff in the Department's real estate division. There were a number of times over the past couple of years where we thought we had our building, only to have it sold out from under us or changed in terms and conditions.
I'm sorry. Are you talking about the Parkway? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. 25
Or are you talking 20 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 about South Broad Street? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: South Broad -- well, the last group of agencies that we refer to as "the space orphans" that didn't fit into One Parkway. We had done several due diligence examinations on a short list of buildings that started from, I believe, about 40 locations, narrowed down to several buildings.
And what's the term -- what's the length of the term? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: This is ten years; the first year at $14 a square foot, and the tenth year goes to 15.75 a square foot.
In the Land Title Building today, what percentage of it is occupied? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: I don't know myself. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I don't know. Maybe I can ask the real estate --
Well, it's not something that I need to know today, I'm sorry. I was just curious as to what the percentage of 21 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 occupation is now. And with us going in there, will we fill this building, will we still have floors unoccupied? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: There is still some space in the building. (Tom Kramer comes forward.)
Please introduce for the record, spell your last name for the stenographer, and then proceed.
My name is Tom Kramer, spelled K-R-A-M-E-R, with Smith Mack & Company. We are the real estate brokers for the property. To answer your question, the building right now is 40 percent occupied approximately. When the City comes in, we'll go to approximately 72 percent. We have leases out and some other deals which would take us to about 75. So we'll still have some -- some space.
Could you just 22 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 repeat --
Sure. The property right now is 40 percent occupied. If the City completes a deal with the property, it would be 70 percent occupied. The City would take approximately about 30 percent more. We have leases out on another deal separate from the City, which would then take us to 75.
Wait a minute. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madame Chair. This question is for anyone. How much is the fair-market square-foot rental fee for that kind of space? 'Cause I can't -- I don't -- when you say in years 1, 2, 3, it's $14 per square foot, I don't know whether that's a deal because I don't know the average fair-market price. 23 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Speaking for the -- speaking for the City and the negotiation team, we do consider it a very fair deal. I believe it came in less than our five-year rent plan projection. It includes renovation of the space for up to $20 a square foot. The one thing that we haven't abandoned in the smaller leases was the other part of the initiative, which was to deliver improved space to the workers in any rent deal that we did. And in fact, to partially go back to Councilman Kenney's question about available space, there's all kinds of available space, there's all kinds of offers. We could have rented space for 8 or $9 a square foot as is, where is, all renovation at our expense. So that's the range of the problem.
Thank you, Madame Chair. Commissioner, let me go back and just make sure I heard your testimony correctly. 24 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 (Addressing Mr. Kramer.) Sir. I think you want to hold on for a second.
I believe in your testimony, you indicated that in the first year the square foot cost was $14 a square foot? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
And did you say that at the end of the term, it was $15.70, did you say that? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: 15.75.
15.75, okay. Mr. Kramer, you indicated that with the City and other leases, the building will go to 75 percent occupancy?
Okay. And that remaining percent, how many square feet is 20 that? 21
We would have about -- I'm 22 going to say, what, about -- I want to give you a 23 good answer on that. 24
50,000 feet. 25 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225
Okay. Commissioner, I hadn't planned to raise this issue, but you made reference to it so I have to ask you about it. The 990 Spring Garden proposal which was here and, I think, then left, and now your testimony was that it may be coming back. What's the square footage requirement for those departments? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: That's approximately 62 or 63,000 feet. It's about 20,000 per floor, and we're taking three floors.
And does that still include the proposed relocation of the various police department units? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: There's been some changes. COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225
I believe there have. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yeah. The Internal Affairs group -- reorganized Internal Affairs Group, which is a much larger operation, we still have to find an appropriate location for them.
Were they included in the 60,000 or 62,000 -- COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. 12
-- original square foot proposal? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. 15
So now Internal Affairs is being taken out of the 990 Spring Garden deal? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
And absent them, are you saying that you're still at 62,000? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
Or were you originally at 62 with some -- COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. We were negotiating for two floors, and then as the 27 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 programs -- the space analysis -- the programs were progressing, we needed another floor, at least a portion of another floor. We've ended up with a space plan that uses three complete floors in 990, not including Internal Affairs.
Why wouldn't -- I mean, since the square footage seems to almost match up perfectly, why wouldn't we take those departments and relocate them to 100 South Broad, closer at least to the general Center City population? Although I know the theory is that these people don't need to be in Center City, why don't we put them all together, down at 100 South Broad? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: One reason for it is cost. We're talking about 10.50 or 10.75 a square foot on Spring Garden versus 14 for Center City. They are also units with high parking demand.
Right. Well, Mr. Kramer might be a little more interested in what would essentially take him up to, I think, about 28 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 100 percent, maybe 101 percent, occupancy. I mean, have you had any discussions about filling out the rest of the space and what that might do on the square footage cost? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: No. 7
Okay. Could I encourage you to do so. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: It's always an option for us. Neither of these leases have I put a signature on.
Right. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: And there's always the possibility at the 11th hour that things don't work out. Although, obviously, we're here because we've come to terms on this location.
I understand. I'm just asking you to take a look at the other components. Lastly --
You were about to say that some of the units that you were just discussing have a high parking responsibility. 29 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 Would that be one of the things that might influence your decision either to locate here or to locate in places where parking would be more accessible? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: It's an influencing factor. A unit that needs Center City parking is going to cost us -- for City vehicles, it's going to cost us about 130, 140 dollars a month per vehicle.
Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: For example, I understand the Internal Affairs Unit believes they need parking for 280 vehicles.
Per vehicle? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes. And it is a driving factor. It's not the ultimate factor, but lower price base in some of these industrial buildings away from Center City, they've tended over the years to have their own parking areas and 30 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 also available street parking. That takes the pressure off the deal.
Mr. Nutter wasn't through, and I apologize for stepping on your --
No problem. I'm not hurt. Lastly, Commissioner, in the first part of your testimony, did I hear you make reference to this was a deal between a limited partnership and the Philadelphia Municipal Authority? Did I hear you say that? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: This is a -- yes. We are -- we are entering -- the Department will enter into a sublease with the Philadelphia Municipal Authority, who will have the lease with the partnership.
The partnership being the owners of the building? 31 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
Okay. That's the part I didn't understand. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
The building's a partnership between a group who is based out of New York and Europe and a local gentleman named Alex Schwartz who's probably the one that the City has had the most contact with. And they own a considerable amount of real estate. Notably in Philadelphia, I guess, is 1420 Walnut Street, the Fairmount Apartments. They own quite a few buildings in New York -- the McGraw-Hill Building right off of Times Square, which is a landmark art-deco-type property.
I guess I'm next so I'll just start. Thank you. Mr. Kramer, you indicated that 60 percent of the building is unoccupied.
The space that the 32 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 City's taking, is it entirely vacant space? Is it all -- is the City's new space just the space that's unoccupied presently?
So there's no one now leaving the building because the City requires -- because they like this particular area? Are there any relocations within the building, are we losing -- or are you losing any tenants because of this deal?
So the City's moving into totally unoccupied space presently?
Thank you. And, Commissioner, I think you should start looking at some of the other departments, the Health Department and others, that have those requirements to park. I see on South Broad Street all the time the line of City vehicles going into the parking areas. And I believe I asked the question once about how much does that cost us, and no one 33 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 seemed to know. Is there a way to determine how much we pay to park City vehicles and how many we park on a monthly basis? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: I can provide you the details. And, of course, not surprisingly, it ranges from very inexpensive blocks several lots away to the premium spaces in Center City.
So they'd be obvious departments in the future to do what you're doing on Spring Garden Street, to find buildings that have off-street parking. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Right. If and when the opportunity presents itself such as renewal of a lease. That's an opportunity to look at another building and do something different with it. And the reason most often used by departments for space changes really has to do mostly with hiring. They tend to grow out of their spaces as hiring increases. And, also, grant-funded programs tend to change space requirements for short periods of time.
My last question 34 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 is: Is that the parking lot that is under the plaza at MSB, is that owned by the City of Philadelphia? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: The underground parking lot is owned by the City of Philadelphia, by the Department of Public Property. It is under agreement to the Parking Authority, which has a management agreement with the Parkway Corporation.
Commissioner, I understand there's some consideration that that parking lot, since we're paying, you mentioned, $130 a month to park a City vehicle, that that parking lot be taken back by the Department of Public Property and utilized to park the hundreds of City vehicles that congest this area in Center City. Can you tell me today, is there some consideration when that lease expires to take back that parking lot and utilize it to park the City vehicles and get out of some of these parking leases that you currently have? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: If those considerations are underway, I'm not a party. The Department is not involved. 35 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 I am aware that the operations agreement, the management agreement between the Parking Authority and Parkway Corporation is expected to terminate, I believe, in 1999.
Commissioner, just to finalize this, it's amazing to me that the City of Philadelphia could own a parking lot, and unless there's some creative deal where we are making more money than we're spending that we own a parking lot and then we pay other parking lots to park our vehicles. I can't imagine that we couldn't have cut some creative deal that we've got X-number of spaces in a block that we already own during the leasing and negotiation process. COMMISSIONER PEREZ: That certainly would be our preferred outcome, thinking about it in 1998, but when that particular deal was struck, my understanding is that all we got was a guarantee of access to 100 or so spaces, but not a guaranteed fixed cost or no cost.
So, hopefully, we'll look at that a little harder when it comes up for renegotiations or whatever. 36 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 COMMISSIONER PEREZ: I'm hoping so.
Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Madame Chair.
My thanks to the committee. Are there other persons in the room who wish to be heard to speak in favor of or against this bill? (No response.)
The call is out. There being no persons present, is there a request for suspension of the rules? COMMISSIONER PEREZ: Yes.
Thank you. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'll entertain that motion.
Madame Chair, I move that Bill No. 970743 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation, and an additional request made for the rules suspension to allow for first reading at our next Council session. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor? 37 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225 All opposes? Bill No. 970743 will be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation, and with the recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at the next meeting of Council. All in favor, aye? Opposes? The bill has passed. I'll take a motion on Bill No. 980225.
Madame Chair, I move that Bill No. 980225 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation, and a request be made for suspension of rules to allow for first reading at our next Council session. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor? Opposes? Bill No. 980225 has been reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation, and with the recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended. There being no further business before this committee, I'll accept a motion to adjourn. 38 COMM. ON PUB. PROP. & PUB. WORKS - BILL 980225
So ordered. Thank you very, very much. (Adjourned at 10:17 a.m.) - - - 39 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, May 12, 1998, were reported and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE PUBLIC PROPERTY BILL NO.'S 980225 and 970743 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, RPR