GSA to lease space for offices

The U.S. General Services Administration awarded a contract to a Lincoln, Neb., firm to build new offices in Cape Gir-ardeau for the Social Security Administration and lease the building to the government for $272,371 a year.

Social Security employees currently work at two locations -- a 7,681-square-foot suite in the federal courthouse building on Broadway and a 996-square-foot satellite office on South Silver Springs Road. The new offices, to be constructed on Cape Centre Drive off South Kingshighway, will be 9,738 square feet, said Charlie Cook, spokesman for the GSA's regional office in Kansas City, Mo.

The government's landlord, VerMaas Construction of Lincoln, Neb., will be given a guaranteed seven years with the Social Security Administration as the tenant with an option for three more years, Cook said.

The offices at the Broadway federal building must find new quarters because there is no space for the agency in the new federal courthouse at 555 Independence St. That new courthouse, about three times the size of the Broadway building, is dedicated to judicial purposes, Cook said.

Once the courts and support staff have moved to the new courthouse, Cook said, the federal government will begin the process of declaring the Broadway building as surplus.

The new $62 million courthouse, which was supposed to have been ready in August after numerous construction delays, sits empty while the GSA seeks approval to spend $2.2 million on repairs and mistakes made during construction. Cook said the approval is "a few weeks away" and that it will take about seven months after the approval to spend the money before the courthouse will be usable.

The GSA decided to lease new quarters for the Social Security offices instead of building a government-owned structure to avoid long-term maintenance and other costs, Cook said. "We are more flexible with the terms, and when the Social Security Administration needs to upgrade or alter the mission, we don't have to worry about getting rid of the building," Cook said.

The land deal was handled by Tom Kelsey of Lorimont Place and Brad Haertling of River Realty. The 1.7 acre lot is about half the available land at the site, Haertling said. It has been listed for sale at $299,000 by the owner, Eagle Peak Properties LP, a limited partnership company controlled by general partner James Rust of Rust Management Co.

"There were about 40 acres originally down there," Haertling said. "We have parcelled out a number of different pieces or parts."

Kelsey said he represented VerMaas in the deal, helping narrow down potential sites to the final location.

The tentative timeline calls for the new office building to be ready in about 12 months, Cook said.

The decision to own a new facility or sign a long-term lease on a build-to-suit structure is generally guided by the activities that will take place in the building, Cook said. A courthouse has little use except as a courthouse, he said, so it makes sense for the government to own it. An office building can have a life beyond the government's use, he said, which makes leasing a better option.

"It wouldn't make sense for us to lease a courthouse," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126