Malibu Officials Are Closer to Taking Possession of New Municipal Center

• Estimated Time Frame for Move-In Is Nine Months

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu officials moved one more step closer to acquiring a new City Hall, when the 10-day appeal period for bankruptcy court came and went and there were no new bidders on the property.
“We still have to close escrow,” said City Manager Jim Thorsen. The city this week published a Request for Proposal for architectural services for the new City Hall.
The city held the winning bid for the purchase of the 35,000-square-foot building located directly behind the current City Hall when they offered $15 million for the building that was the former home of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and currently houses the Malibu Performing Arts Center.
Thorsen said the city is expected to close escrow at the end of July, when all of the money turns over for the acquisition.
Current plans call for the city to take the money out of the general fund to meet the end of July deadline. Those general funds would be replaced by the certificates of participation that will be used to cover the financing.
The city manager said he hoped that the move into the new quarters could be made in about nine months.
City officials are still discussing the specifics of moving out of their current building before the lease ends in three years. They have said that they will not make double payments.
“We are still looking at subleasing,” Thorsen said.
The city is currently paying $800,000 rent annually for the 15,647 square feet it now occupies at the current City Hall.
There is still three years on the lease, or about $2 million owed in rent to the landlord who has said that the city will not be let out of its lease.
City officials say the COPs will be paid back over a 30-year period from the savings in rent payments.