City to buy former Columbian furniture at deep discount

When Vancouver’s city staff move into their new City Hall next year, they’ll have some very lightly used — and very deeply discounted — furniture waiting for them.

The city council approved a deal to buy The Columbian’s former leased office furniture for $200,000, about 11 cents on the dollar of the original price tag.

The newspaper leased the furniture, valued at $1.76 million, from a company called G.E. Capital, according to bankruptcy court documents.

The modular furniture, which includes chairs, desks, partitions, tables and filing cabinets, has been unused since The Columbian vacated the space, now set to become City Hall, in December 2008.

“It’s a great deal,” said Tim Haldeman, Vancouver director of facilities, risk and property services, noting that the office space’s setup and amount of furniture are “very close to the exact fit” for the city’s uses.

The city council last Monday approved an $18.5 million purchase of the six-story building at 415 W. Sixth St. and two lots nearby, from Bank of America. It also approved an additional $5 million for moving costs, brokerage fees and other soft costs.

City officials say the move, set for next summer, will save about $1 million in leasing and operating costs Vancouver is spending to house its administrative employees in five buildings spread out over 10 miles.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Bank of America hired property management firm PREM Group to manage the site. PREM Group bought the furniture from G.E. Capital this year and then offered to sell it to Vancouver at a “salvage” rate, Haldeman said.

Among the advantages, besides the big discount, is that the city would not have to pay to remove its current furniture from its buildings and set it up in its new space. Financial records show that it cost The Columbian about $80,000 for setup alone, he said.

“We’re going to have to add a few private offices for attorneys, but that’s about it,” Haldeman said. “The existing configuration fits our staff pretty well.”

The council approved the deal unanimously and praised staff for negotiating the deal.

“You couldn’t buy the partitions for this for $200,000,” said Councilor Bart Hansen, office services manager at Clark Public Utilities. “And leasing furniture is not the way to go.”

The Columbian had no financial stake in either the City Hall sale, or of its former rented furniture.

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.