Wayne Commission Agrees to Guardian Purchase

The purchase has been controversial, as Wayne County executive Robert Ficano launched the Guardian purchase because he says the office is being overcharged on its current building lease. County officials tell GlobeSt.com that they are paying more than $30 per sf on the lease of the 250,000-sf office building, possibly twice what the average class B office lease is at Downtown.

The landlord group, the Old Wayne County Building Limited Partnership, submitted a letter to the county Thursday, lowering the asking price on the 600 Randolph building to $17.5 million, from its previous offer of $24.8 million, says a partnership spokesman.

However, the price includes a $35-million loan the county gave the partnership as part of the building's lease agreement years ago. The partnership wants the county to waive the loan, making the building cost about $52.5 million, the county spokesman says. The partnership spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the offer is $17.5 million for 600 Randolph, and that the loan doesn't exist, but could not provide more details by press time.

The commission has agreed to look at the partnership's lower offer, but as long as due diligence goes through, the county will buy the Guardian building and two ancillary facilities for $33 million, the county spokesman says. "Our lease is up Oct. 31; we're ready to start moving," he says. It's possible that after more negotiation, the county may decide to buy 600 Randolph as well, the spokesman says. "We still have other employees that we could move out to the Guardian."