First Published April 17, 2023.
On the eve of a crucial Portsmouth City Council public hearing (AND CITY COUNCIL VOTE?) on whether to spend more dollars acquiring the McIntyre federal building or walk away, the former top Portsmouth city official who worked with the former US Senator Judd Gregg’s staff to draft the original bill that turned the property over to the city for $1 says the city already owns the building.
“The City of Portsmouth owns the building. The legislation that passed in 2003—Sen. Bill 1589—that turned the property over to the city for a dollar and gave the GSA millions to relocate to Pease has never been repealed,” said Ted Jankowski, former Portsmouth Deputy City Manager, twice acting city manager, and city finance director. “The last of the funding was taken away in 2020, but the bill says the city owns the building as soon as the tenants leave the building– which they have.”
(Sec. 408) Authorizes the GSA Administrator to: (1) acquire certain land in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as a site for the public building needs of the Federal Government; (2) design and construct upon the site a new Federal Office Building to house the Federal agencies presently located in the Thomas J. McIntyre Federal Building. Makes certain funds available for such purposes; and (3) convey without consideration the Thomas J. McIntyre Federal Office Building to the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for economic development purposes, subject to specified conditions.
Senate Bill 1589
“But for all these years, the city has failed to follow up on this and fight for it. They never hired a Washington lobbyist or a legal expert on the GSA who deals with them on a regular basis and knows all their ins and outs to fight for the building,” Jankowski objected. “Not only does the city own the building, it doesn’t have to preserve that building under Sen. Bill 1589. The GSA obviously does not like this because it means giving up the property for no money. But why does the city want to spend tens of millions when they already own the building, and why isn’t the city hiring a DC expert to give it the answer it so desperately needs?” a frustrated Jankowski asked. “My concern is that there’s a backroom deal here that has not been divulged to the public.”
In February, 2020, in order to help the city, Jankowski spent days of his own time in Washington, DC researching Senate Bill 1589 while lecturing about international property tax issues at George Washington University. Jankowski also spent months of city time working on the issue while he worked as Portsmouth’s Deputy City Manager years ago. “The original bill still says the GSA has to give the McIntyre to the city,” Jankowski says. “It has never been repealed even today.”
Jankowski recommends that the City Council and City Manager hire a true DC expert to fight for the building. Specifically, he suggests hiring the top law firm in the country that has handled more GSA transactions than anyone – including the Trump Hotel. “They could investigate and present their analysis on whether the city owns the property under Gregg’s bill that has never been repealed. Hey, maybe the city could own the property, 2.2 acres, and take down that ugly building. Two years ago, the cost they gave me for their analysis was $15,000.”
