County Acts to Buy Chevron Building

County supervisors have agreed that with the local commercial real estate market on the upswing, buying a three-story building across the street from the Government Center for $2.7 million is a good deal.

The panel Tuesday passed a resolution announcing its intention to buy the Chevron USA building in an effort to reduce the $4.6 million the county spends each year to lease commercial space. That includes 65,000 square feet of leased office space within a five-mile radius of the Government Center.

“I think we’ll save money in the long run,” Ventura County Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester said. “The window of opportunity is excellent and I fully support it.”

Supervisors set a legally required public hearing on the purchase for 10 a.m. on Nov. 11.

County projections show the county will save $5.5 million over a 15-year period, Ventura County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Terry Dryer said.

Dryer said Chevron wants to continue leasing the 36,000-square-foot building from the county over the next five years and vacate one floor every two years. The county would begin moving departments into the building in January, 1999. The five-year lease to Chevron will generate an estimated $1.6 million for the county, Dryer said.

County officials have not decided which departments would move into the building, which would be purchased with interest earnings from the Public Facilities Corp., an agency created by the county in the 1970s to finance construction of large public building projects.