Internal Revenue Service Taxpayer Assistance Center, San Antonio, Texas
line
Analysis
The General Service Administration of the United States Government (GSA), is charged with asset management, design, construction, leasing, operations and disposition of federal facilities, both leased and owned, through its Public Buildings Service (PBS) division, the real estate services arm of the federal government. The agency has been attempting to bring its operating processes and procedures, as well as its asset portfolio up to modern-day standards. In conjunction with this effort, the GSA’s Region 7 office in Ft. Worth, in a pilot project, selected The Amend Group to provide end-to-end real estate services to assist the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with its search for a new Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) in San Antonio, Texas.
The IRS has been a tenant at Summit Tower, 5835 Callaghan Road in the western part of San Antonio near I-10 and I-410 for over twenty-seven years, and its lease expires on November 30, 2003. The growth of the agency, including its ground-floor based TAC where taxpayers come to pay taxes, ask questions, resolve disputes and receive tax-related counseling from IRS employees, had rendered the current location obsolete. Employees were scattered throughout the building in non-contiguous spaces, and the TAC was inadequate to handle the daily traffic of taxpayers, particularly during the spring tax season. The new facility would require a minimum of 46,000 usable square feet (usf), and any relocation would need to occur no later than December 1, 2003, or would have to wait until May 2004 due to tax season.
The initial target area for the search for a new facility was provided to The Amend Group by the IRS from a survey the agency makes that identifies the location of the taxpayers that use the TAC, and included most of the Northwest and North Central sub-markets of San Antonio, but did not include Summit Tower. Although San Antonio, like most markets in the country at this time, suffers from significant vacancy in office buildings, due to a large parking requirement (both employee and visitor) and the requirement for at least 10,000 usf of contiguous space on the first floor, many buildings with adequate available space were eliminated because the building could not meet these requirements. The result of the search required the IRS to expand the target area because of inadequate options for relocation. The resulting expansion to most of San Antonio north of downtown provided 3 buildings that were selected by the IRS for soliciting offers.
It was at this time in the process that the owners of Summit Tower filed a protest with the GSA. The law allows anyone to file such a protest during a GSA project if that person or entity believes the project is not providing an opportunity for them to compete, or for any other reason. The owners of Summit Tower felt they were not given an opportunity to provide a competitive offer to retain the IRS as a tenant, although the facility could no longer meet the parking requirements, the first floor space was inadequate and the employees were scattered throughout the building. Representatives of the GSA and the IRS were able to eliminate the protest by allowing Summit Tower to submit an offer to retain the IRS as a tenant. The Amend Group personnel visited all 4 options, Summit Tower, Petroleum Towers, Data Point Complex and First Park Ten Tech Center, and formally solicited offers from all 4 owners. First Park Ten dropped out of contention due to the failure of the group attempting to purchase the property to be able to close the acquisition and gain control. Following analysis of the remaining 3 offers, Petroleum Towers was selected as the new location to house the IRS facility.
Project Goals
- Occupancy: December 1, 2003
- Building Type: High quality office building, preferably mid-rise or high-rise.
- Location: Within boundaries established in GSA Presolicitation Notice.
- Space: Approximately 46,000 usf depending upon the building selected. A minimum of 10,000 usf must be available on the first floor of the building.
- 213 parking spaces, plus visitor parking to city code, all reserved.
- Term: Ten (10) years, with an early termination option available at the end of the fifty-eighth (58th) month.
- The Amend Group will provide brokerage services, interior design and architectural services, project management and general construction contracting services for the GSA. Transaction and project management would be managed via The Amend Group’s proprietary web-based software.
Services Provided
- Tenant brokerage
- Interior architecture
- Interior construction management
- Project management
- Negotiations
- Market analysis
- Technology services
Results Summary
- Evaluated all options within both the original and the expanded target areas
- Developed customized Solicitation for Offer (SFO) process to conduct market survey activities, as well as the submittal of offers by building owners.
- Automation of the SFO process eliminated the necessity of GSA personnel to send via overnight mail large packages of paper copies of documents required for submittal of an offer. All documents were included in the web-based SFO accessed by Offerors.
- The relocation to Petroleum Towers will allow the TAC to be housed in a stand-alone atrium building between the two office towers, with other IRS personnel being housed in one tower.
- The terms negotiated provide the IRS a below-market 10-year transaction, including free rent and occupancy of the TAC by December 1, 2003 as required.