By Buck Fuller
Before the City Council Wastes More Money on McIntyre…
The City Council needs to slow down and think. Don’t let City management or the City attorneys lead you astray AGAIN! There’s a case to be made that Portsmouth has a strong claim on owning McIntyre.
It may not have been properly fought for and we can wonder why the City has never done that.
Maybe the previous City manager never wanted to complicate things by the City owning the property. Maybe he just wanted it to be sold to his developer friends. That would be simpler.
If that happened, the Portsmouth taxpayers would once again be pushed aside and their interests not adequately represented in properly managing the McIntyre property.
Here’s a Brief History …
Reread the Pulse article dated April 17, 2013. Here’s the link:
Ted Jankowski, who served as former Deputy City Manager, twice acting City Manager and the City Finance Director, states that the property, then owned by the General Services Administration (GSA) would be turned over for a dollar to the City.
Funds Appropriated to Vacate McIntyre
All tenants had to vacate the building before the property would be handed over to Portsmouth and the GSA was given millions of dollars to relocate the tenants. Mr. Jankowski should know about this since he was involved in working out these details with our then-New Hampshire U.S. Senator Judd Gregg.
All of this was outlined in Senate Bill 1589, passed into law in 2003 – 2004 as part of the 108th Congress. It is an Appropriations Act and as such does not get repealed. Here’s the link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/senate-bill/1589
Section 408 of the bill authorizes the GSA Administrator to acquire land in Portsmouth to relocate the McIntyre tenants, construct a new building and convey WITHOUT consideration the McIntyre Building to the City of Portsmouth subject to specified conditions. The conditions require that the tenants be relocated before the City took ownership.
Fast Forward to 2011
Now let’s look at an article in Seacoast Online from February 1, 2011. This is an updated article that was first published on April 27, 2005. The 2011 article is written by Emily Aronson. Here’s the link:
As of 2005, the GSA’s plan to build a new building at Pease “is still on schedule.” “A deal between the U.S. General Service Administration and the City was part of a $24.8 million federal appropriation allowing GSA to buy land at 234 Corporate Drive to construct a new federal building.
The new building would house employees of the FBI, the Navy and the Internal Revenue Service, among other agencies. The GSA “hopes to award the building’s construction contract by 2006, with the building scheduled to open in September 2008 ”
In 2011, City Planner David Holden reports that “the City is eager to see the project move forward.” Then City Manager John Bohenko said “he hopes the City could find a new use for the building that would get it back on to the City’s tax rolls.”
Now Jump to 2014
As you can read in this Seacoast Online link: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/portsmouth-herald/2014/04/02/white-house-gets-call-in/37813741007/
there’s still no resolution here.
Senator Shaheen Involvement
Now U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen gets involved. She said on Tuesday, April 1, 2014, “she had spoken ‘directly with the White House’ in an effort to get the General Services Administration to turn the McIntyre Federal Building over to the City of Portsmouth.”
Apparently the GSA started to backpeddle. Additionally, from this article: “Shaheen’s statement comes after a contentious meeting Monday night between the City Council and Robert Zarnetske, regional administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration.”
“City officials and the Congressional delegation contend that Federal legislation passed in 2004 (see Senate Bill 1589) compels the GSA to move to make a new facility at Pease and transfer the McIntyre Building, which is located in the heart of downtown close to the waterfront, to the City of Portsmouth.”
GSA Roadblocks to City Ownership
“But Zarnetske said on Monday night, and in a March 27 letter to Mayor Robert Lister, that they never had to make the move, especially because it does not fiscal sense.”
“’The 2004 legislation that earmarked the disposal of the McIntyre is not a mandate to do so, rather it is a conditional authorization and directive premised on the prior satisfaction of specific conditions, one of which is that the Federal tenants in the McIntyre be relocated to the new facility.’ Zarnetske states in the letter.”
“He also stated that it would cost $20 million to build at Pease, which would raise rents it would need to charge other tenants at the new facility over market level. In contrast, it would cost $15 million to renovate the existing 1960s-era building.”
Mayor Lister: The City Must “Control the Property”
“Lister said Tuesday that City officials are willing to continue to try to work with their Federal counterparts at the GSA, but they’re not backing down.”
“’We’re looking at nothing short of having control of that property.’ Lister said.”
The rest of the article is of great interest. Read it!
Critically, the legislation was never repealed. It remained a contentious issue between the City and GSA a dozen years ago. What ever happened? From our research this remains unsolved.
Let’s Go to August 2019
Look at this link from Seacoastonline from August 10, 2019:
The article says the last Federal tenant, the Social Security Administration, will vacate McIntyre later in 2020. All of the objections from GSA’s Zarnetske have been met. The original Federal funds have been spent. All that’s missing is the quid pro quo: the GSA needed to hand over the McIntyre to the City (and the taxpayer).
And Now Today
Based on all we have uncovered, the City still has a viable claim on the McIntyre. All of the Federal tenants vacated the McIntyre by 2020 and are now ironically occupying Kane-owned rental properties in Portsmouth
McIntyre’s Empty, Turn It Over to the City!
At the very least, the City owes it to the taxpayer, before it starts to spend millions to buy the McIntyre or before it tells the GSA to sell it to the highest bidder, to hire a reputable attorney based in Washington, D.C. to research the matter and fight for the taxpayers’ interests in controlling the property, just as former Mayor Robert Lister said had to happen.
Deaglan, don’t roll over to the GSA or to the developers. Stick up for the taxpayer!
