Current Topics

Regional Agency Headquarters Concept Moves Forward

December 21, 2011 UPDATE
The Bay Area Headquarters Authority (BAHA) voted today to enter into a contract with a firm to provide architectural and engineering services for the renovation and seismic retrofit design of the new BAHA Regional Agency Headquarters. See the packet material here.

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October 12, 2011 UPDATE
In an 8 to 6 vote, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) this morning agreed to proceed with the purchase of a building at 390 Main Street in San Francisco's South of Market area at a price of $93 million and to contribute funds to the Bay Area Headquarters Agency (BAHA) to purchase and redevelop it into a regional agency headquarters. In that agreement, BATA also agreed to contribute an additional amount of up to $74 million to cover system and seismic upgrades to the facility, along with tenant improvements and relocation expenses, including contingencies. Immediately after the BATA meeting, BAHA held its inaugural meeting at which it accepted BATA's contribution of funds and authorized moving forward with the purchase.

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October 7, 2011 UPDATE
A special meeting of the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) has been called for Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at 9 a.m. to discuss the next steps for the proposed acquisition/development of a new regional agency headquarters facility. The first meeting of the Bay Area Headquarters Authority is scheduled to immediately follow the special BATA meeting.

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September 28, 2011
At a joint meeting today, MTC and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) voted to continue the two-year-long effort to acquire a piece of property and develop it into a new multi-agency Regional Agency Headquarters, with a building at 390 Main Street in San Francisco being the preferred location. In a split vote, the MTC/BATA commissioners endorsed the recommendations of an ad-hoc MTC/BATA fact-finding committee, and agreed to seek the acquisition of the San Francisco property. MTC and BATA commissioners then went into closed session to discuss pricing.

MTC and BATA are sister agencies that are governed by the same 19 commissioners, share staff and are currently located together at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter in Oakland along with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). In addition to potentially housing MTC’s and BATA’s staff the facility in San Francisco has sufficient space to house ABAG as well as two other regional agencies, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). These partner agencies are working closely together on several efforts, including a state-mandated initiative to map out a 25-year plan for a sustainable Bay Area.

MTC/BATA in August appointed the special ad hoc fact-finding committee to review legal, financial and practical aspects of the move. Made up of the current MTC/BATA Commission chair and vice chair plus four MTC/BATA commissioners who have served in the past as Commission chairs, the ad hoc committee made a series of findings and recommendations (PDF).

In separate meetings that followed their joint meeting, MTC and BATA today also voted to form the Bay Area Headquarters Agency, a joint powers authority empowered to enter into negotiations for the 390 Main Street property and to develop it into contemporary, seismically upgraded offices with ample meeting space for the four agencies as well as space to host the back-office operations of MTC’s FasTrak® electronic toll-collection system and Clipper® electronic fare-collection system. A portion of the building would be available for lease to outside, non-governmental entities.

View related documents here.