MENIFEE: Council-elect finds city hall space

Interim city manager announces intent to lease new Haun Road building

By CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:28 PM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- It will be a little more than a month before Menifee incorporates, but leaders of the future city have already lined up a brand new building to serve as their city hall, they said Wednesday.

Following a closed session at a meeting of the City Council-elect, the interim city manager announced he had received approval to finalize terms on a five-year lease of a 7,971-square-foot building under construction on Haun Road. The site is just east of a U.S. Postal Service annex off Newport Road.

Because that single-story building will not be finished until December, the city will first set up shop in another building next door, Interim City Manager George Wentz said. The temporary, 1,600-square-foot quarters at 29683-C New Hub Drive will be provided at no-cost by the landlord, he said.

Those doors will be open for business by Oct. 1, he added, and the next step will be securing phone service at the site.

The new building the city will call home for several years is at 29714-A Haun Road, Wentz said, and Menifee will be the only tenant there. He said the developer had planned to construct a building for light industrial use, but agreed to switch gears and design it for the city. It will have a council chamber and plenty of space for the public and employees, he said, more than the city needs initially, but with room it can grow into.

"We're getting a build-to-suit that will meet our short and longer-term needs," he said. "It's great. I'm very pleased we'll be able to get a space that meets our needs so quickly."

Wentz added that the location is good, as it is central to the city, easy to access and find.

Menifee incorporates Oct. 1 and will encompass the communities of Menifee, Sun City, Quail Valley and a portion of Romoland, a union approved by voters in June.

Wentz said 95 percent of the lease details had been worked out, but that he was not yet at liberty to discuss the cost. But, he said, it is well under the approximately $300,000 annual amount for a city hall estimated in a fiscal analysis done to gauge whether cityhood would be financially viable.

He said the council-elect cannot sign a lease until Oct. 1, but that he would soon sign a letter of intent with the landlord, New Hub Properties.

Wentz has been negotiating for city hall space for several weeks, and said he had looked at several office buildings. He then whittled them down from four sites to one. Also closely considered was a one-story building on La Piedra Road owned by Mt. San Jacinto College, but he said the Haun Road building would better serve the city's long-term needs.

Councilman-elect John Denver, who has owned a Perris real estate company for years, said the outcome obtained by the interim city manager was praiseworthy.

"Congratulations to staff on that building ---- what an asset," he said. "The staff did a great job in getting that negotiated at the right price and at the right time."

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.

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