Inyo County has broken ground on the new 42,000 square foot County Combined Office Building between Grocery Outlet and Bishop Ford. This new building will combine County Departments that are currently spread around town into one location.
The county will acquire the new building through a lease to own arrangement. The lease agreement starts with the $7.8 million down, $39,000 monthly rent and three, quarter-million dollar payments in five year increments. At the end of 20 years, the County will own the building.
According to Inyo CAO Clint Quilter, the lease costs were less than current rents in Bishop and the County would break even in eight years.
County departments with staff currently working out of seven different rentals in Bishop will be housed in the new County Combined Office Building, while Inyo County departments and staff currently in Independence will remain in Independence.
The County explored the possibility of using the old Kmart building located at 910 N Main Street as well as a move to the Cottonwood Plaza. Cottonwood only has 22,000 square feet available, Kmart has 57,000 square feet and the rent would be $25,000 a month. But it would cost $8.4 million to turn the facility into office space. Neither entity was interested in selling.
Inyo county departments and staff should be moved into their new location between Grocery Outlet and Bishop Ford later this year.
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How is it profitable for the owners of the old Kmart to do *nothing* with that building for 20 something odd years? Think of all the other more imaginative uses nearly anyone could come up with for that large chunk of land!
Great, now let’s get the BPD a better more practical station.