Pittsburgh City Council opposes re-upping lease for North Side police headquarters

In a preliminary vote Monday, Pittsburgh City Council opposed extending a lease for the city’s police headquarters, which expires at the end of January.

Council could take a final vote on the measure next week.

A proposal before council would extend the city’s lease on the North Side police headquarters facility on Western Avenue for an additional six years. Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said the deal would allow the city to purchase the building at any part during the lease term.

The city currently pays about $1.5 million per year for the space. Under the proposed lease extension, the city would pay about $1.3 million a year.

The city moved into the space 20 years ago, at a time when officials said Pittsburgh wasn’t in a financial position to purchase a new facility. Council members have reiterated that they did not like spending so much money on a lease over an extended period of time.

Jake Pawlak, director of the Office of Management and Budget, last week told council members that buying the building could be “an exit from the current leasing situation.” City officials have looked into leasing or buying a new facility elsewhere, Pawlak said, but the proposal currently on the table is “more financially advantageous to the city” than other options they’ve explored.

Last week, Pawlak indicated that the city would not be able to buy the building till the end of the proposed six-year lease extension. Schmidt on Monday said the city would be able to exercise the purchase option at any time, and the property owner would be contractually obligated to accept the city’s offer as long as the “purchase price is fair and reasonable.”

Officials have not been able to estimate what a fair purchase price for the 80,000 square foot facility would be.

Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, said she would’ve preferred a shorter lease and questioned whether there weren’t other places police headquarters could go.

“There’s plenty of buildings we own (where) we could try to set something up,” she said, explaining that she wants something “more permanent” and city-owned.

Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, suggested the city may be able to find a better deal elsewhere at a time when commercial “landlords are really scrounging for tenants.”

In a preliminary vote Monday, all council members present voted against the proposal. Councilman Ricky Burgess, D-Point Breeze, was not present for the vote.

The measure will come before council for another vote next week.

It is unclear what the city would do for police headquarters if they did not extend the lease before its expiration at the end of January. Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, said officials “don’t have much of another choice” than to extend the lease deal.

Pittsburgh police moved into their existing headquarters in 2003. The prior site is now a parklet near the Boulevard of the Allies ramp and PNC’s corporate building in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Schmidt said the existing facility was “custom refurbished” for the city’s police bureau. Public safety officials have told council it would be challenging to move police headquarters if officials did not extend the existing lease agreement.