ALBANY, N.Y. — The Capital District Transportation Authority and Amtrak continued efforts Monday to hammer out final details of a lease for a new Rensselaer station as it remained unclear how CDTA plans to cover the building’s operating costs, reports the Albany Times-Union.
Sources close to the talks have said the main provisions of a broad-brush agreement reached Friday would provide for Amtrak to pay $50,000 a year for the use of 17,000 square feet of space in the now-empty $53.1 million station. Those terms would put Amtrak’s payments at about $2.94 per square foot annually.
It is unclear, however, how CDTA would cover the more than $900,000 a year in estimated annual operating expenses for the station and attached parking garage with its main tenant contributing less than 6 percent of the revenue. CDTA declined again Monday to disclose how much rent the station’s prospective operating budget had anticipated from Amtrak.
“We will not talk about the details until this is finalized,” said CDTA spokesman Carm Basile.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, whose district includes the station, said Monday that he does not believe the $50,000 annual rent provides a full picture of the leasing arrangements being made.
He would not elaborate, except to say Amtrak also is giving up some $125,000 a year in revenues it receives from retail operations in the current station, which is owned by Amtrak.
Bruno would not predict whether the state might help cover the station’s operating expenses if other revenues fall short. “No one’s asked for anything. That’s why we’re monitoring it,” he said. “We’ve made it clear that this has to be self-sustaining, and they understand that.”
The CDTA’s 10-month budget for the train station and parking garage, which was based on the assumption that the station would open in June 2002, provides no details other than $900,000 in anticipated revenue and $900,000 in expenses.
CDTA has refused to disclose more specifics of the financial plan, saying the information could undermine the authority’s negotiating position.
So far, the station’s expected annual revenues include $50,000 from a lease with Hamilton News; $18,667 plus a portion of net sales from the Coffee Beanery; and undetermined parking fees from the garage.
Meanwhile, representatives of CB Richard Ellis, the leasing agent for 2,900 square feet of office space on the station mezzanine, continue their efforts to lease that space at the asking price of $17 per square foot, but no office tenants have been signed yet.
“It is absolutely gorgeous space,” said Eileen Lindburg of CB Richard Ellis. “That Albany skyline really shows up beautifully from there.”
If all the space were leased at the full asking price, the office space would contribute $49,300 a year to station revenues.
Known annual expenses for the new station include $98,500 to Omni Management Group for building management; $178,308 to Janitronics for cleaning services; and $220,000 to Maiden Lane of Albany to operate the parking garage.
The U.S. Postal Service also is expected to occupy a portion of the station later, but the expected rent payments could not be determined Monday. An audit released last week by state Comptroller H. Carl McCall criticized CDTA for agreeing to fund some $500,000 in capital improvements for the Postal Service lease and more than $129,000 for design changes to accommodate the Postal Service and Amtrak.
Since the station budget is $19 million above the original budget, McCall’s audit said CDTA should have required the Postal Service to pay its own “fit up” costs and negotiated a lower lease rate. The audit also was critical of CDTA’s failure to secure a lease commitment from Amtrak at the outset of the project.