Wenatchee Finalizes Lease of Old City Hall for Social Security Office

Wenatchee City Council voted late last week to enter into a 10-year lease agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA) for use of what used to be city hall.

Mayor Frank Kuntz said the GSA is acting on behalf of the Social Security Administration, who will be occupying the space at 129 S. Chelan Avenue.

The GSA initially budgeted the deal too low and had to find additional funding. This forced the GSA to request the City of Wenatchee amortize an additional $94,238 over the course of the term. The original lease specified six months of free rent to the GSA, but in exchange for amortizing the additional cost the city will now only cover four months rent free.

"The biggest issue is this remodel that's gonna take place. Maybe a couple million dollars of leasehold improvements going into the building starting in the next couple of weeks." Kuntz explained, "So the contract we have with them gives some flexibility as to whether the City pays it and GSA pays us back, or GSA just pays it and they just have the standard lease. So we've been working through some of those issues over the past three to four months."

The city will receive an annual rent of just over $276,000.