Trimess

Friday, September 9, 2011

"Moving together" (oh boy)

Today the Moving Together project began the official search in Portland's Central Business District and the Lloyd District for a new leased administrative building.


In addition to the Center Street renovations planned as part of the Moving Together project, TriMet also needs to lease a new administration building and have it ready for staff to move into by early 2013. There are many activities that need to take place before we can move in, so today the project began the official search for such a building in Portland’s Central Business District, including the Lloyd District. Landlords will be providing us with details about their building, which we can compare to find the best match for TriMet’s needs. In consultation with all members of TriMet’s Leadership Team, the Moving Together project has developed a “New Facility Criteria Checklist” to use when conducting these comparisons. The checklist includes these items:

Site criteria: Building size, size of each floor, future expansion options, parking (bikes, poolcars, visitors), showers and lockers, secure storage.

Financial criteria: Cost of lease over the lease period. Landlord concessions such as limited free rent, allowances for improvements.

Proximity criteria: Direct access to Center Street campus and close to bus and light rail. Near employee amenities such as banks, dry cleaners, fitness facility, food service/deli/catering, daycare.

Business criteria: Business amenities, technical infrastructure, appropriate image, business climate/neighborhood, access to partner agencies (e.g.: Metro, COP, ODOT), sustainable building management practices, building security.

Building criteria: Property Management or Owner information, Age/type of HVAC system, recent building upgrades, seismic stability, upkeep and appearance, window type, ability to add security features (e.g.: badge access, cameras)

We know that we won’t get everything on the checklist, but it gives us consistent, specific criteria to evaluate the properties.

Landlords need to respond by 9/23/11. TriMet’s outreach to landlords includes posting the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) via our online procurement and contracts system; running an ad in the Daily Journal of Commerce; and distributing the RFQ via the real estate community’s exchange system, which reaches commercial landlords and their representatives directly.

The building search process is expected to last at least into spring 2012. At the end of the process, we will know which building we’re leasing and which departments are moving into it in 2013.

Watch this blog for updates. For background, visit our library.

1 comment:

Al M said...

Can they get any cornier?
""Moving together"""...
sheesh!