Board of Supervisors approve lease agreement with Caterpillar

PIMA COUNTY – The Pima County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a lease agreement with Caterpillar.

The company plans to lease the county-owned building at 97 E. Congress, which formerly housed the Regional Flood Control District and Pima Vocational High School. Regional Flood Control has moved into the County-City Development Services Building, 201 N. Stone Ave., and Pima Vocational High School will move to the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W Irvington Road.

The lease term for 97 E. Congress is four years with two, one-year options. Caterpillar will pay the County an annual lease rate of $13.72 per square foot of occupied space and $7.12 per square foot of unoccupied space, payable in equal monthly installments

Caterpillar will initially lease approximately 20,000-square-feet of office space on the second and third floors of the building. By late 2016, Caterpillar intends to lease the remaining space, totaling 41,000-square-feet.

The County plans to spend $2 million on facility improvements at the building while Caterpillar has agreed to repay 30 percent of the capital tenant improvement costs over the four-year period. That amount is equivalent to the depreciated value of the tenant improvements over the same period.

Caterpillar also agreed to pay all operating and maintenance costs associated with the building, as well as the standard government property excise fees.
Pima County will provide up to 200 parking spaces in the adjacent County Legal Services Garage.