County Seeks to Own More, Lease Less

Plans Solicited for Government Center

Loudoun County officials have set a deadline of Feb. 5 for proposals from developers to build a county government complex.

If the project is approved by the supervisors, the complex would largely replace the $37 million red-brick building that opened on Harrison Street in downtown Leesburg a decade ago.

The county staff has outgrown the Harrison Street building, officials said. Loudoun has experienced unprecedented population growth in recent years, and the government has expanded correspondingly.

As a result, more than a quarter of the 625,000 square feet the county staff occupies is leased space, which costs taxpayers about $4 million a year. A third of all county employees work in leased buildings. The leased government offices are primarily in Leesburg.

According to a county analysis, the annual cost of leasing is higher than the cost of owning and operating the same amount of office space.

In addition to savings on rent, a new complex would allow county officials to consolidate scattered operations, said Jay Snyder, the county's director of general services.

"It's partly trying to accommodate the growth in staff over the time, and partly to reduce our reliance on leased space in favor of properties that would be owned by the county," Snyder said.

The Board of Supervisors will not decide for at least a year whether to build a new government center and how to finance the project, according to a timeline recommended by county staff. By then, a new board will have taken office. Design and construction of the complex would take an additional three years.

But the county is already seeking initial proposals and projected price tags from developers. The county's request for proposals says that the site must be able to accommodate at least two buildings totaling 500,000 square feet, as well as parking. The county will consider locations in Leesburg as well as sites on the town's outskirts or in eastern Loudoun.

If the project goes forward, the county would probably hold on to the 158,561-square-foot Harrison Street building. One possible use for the building is to house court employees, who are running out of space in the Loudoun County Courthouse on Market Street. But county officials do not propose moving the courts out of the courthouse building.

They also do not envision moving the sheriff's office or fire and rescue personnel from their current locations. But most county entities, including the Board of Supervisors and the departments of health, transportation and family services, would probably relocate to the new government center.

That prospect concerns Leesburg officials. If the county were to vacate all of its offices in Leesburg except for the Harrison Street building, the town's office vacancy rate would swell from 2.6 percent to 12.3 percent, according to town officials.

"If certain county functions left the downtown, it could have a negative impact on businesses that do a lot of business with the county," such as lawyers and planning officials, said Leesburg Town Manager John A. Wells.

On the other hand, Wells said, it could open up opportunities by attracting larger businesses that need high-quality office space.

The project could raise eyebrows beyond Leesburg if the history of the Harrison Street building is any indication. That facility stirred controversy among residents and taxpayer groups that said that county officials were building it against residents' wishes.

In 1993, voters rejected by a 2-to-1 margin a $35.5 million bond to fund the building's construction. But county officials, who had said that a county-owned building would save $13 million in rent over 20 years, built it anyway through a lease-purchase agreement with a developer.

A citizens group subsequently sued the county, but a judge found no wrongdoing on the county's part and threw out the lawsuit.