Officials in Troy recently heralded a long-awaited announcement: they would leave their longtime but temporary city hall home. But now, attorneys for landlord First Columbia says the city actually can’t break the lease.
On May 30th, the City of Troy moved to activate its termination of lease for its current location, the Hedley Park Place building on River Street. Moving city hall to a permanent home has long been a priority of Republican Mayor and former City Council president Carmella Mantello.
But on Monday, attorney Michael Macomber with Tully Rinckey sent a letter to city officials saying the city cannot terminate its lease because the city council has not approved a new site before the termination.
The council’s minority Democrats raised this clause with the city’s corporation counsel, Rich Morrissey, at last week’s council meeting. In Morrissey’s opinion, the council did not have to approve a new site.
“I’m curious if council action was needed to enter into this agreement how the agreement can be terminated without council action,” Democratic Councilor Aaron Vera of District 4 said.
“The agreement itself provides for early termination so the council approved that,” Morrissey said.
“OK,” Vera said. “That early termination clause says “in the event the city council approves a new city hall site.”
“So it doesn’t say that the city council has to approve that site before the termination clause it exercised,” Morrissey said.
However, it says the termination clause must be exercised by June 1 in order to leave the option open we exercised the termination clause.”
Alex Horton, a spokesperson for the mayor, maintains that despite the letter, a new home for City Hall will be unveiled in the coming weeks, and officials expect to relocate by January 2027.
“The city has lawfully timely exercised its option to terminate the lease agreement, First Columbia at 433 River Street in the city of Troy, and on January 1, 2027 we expect to be in a new city hall site approved by the city council,” Horton said.
City Hall’s lease expired on September 30, 2022. Former Mayor Patrick Madden had been working to reach a deal when Mantello won the November 2023 election. Mantello then took over negotiations and signed a lease last summer retroactive to January 2024. In that amended five-year lease, the city agreed that “In the event that City Council approves a new City Hall site, Tenant shall be entitled to a one-time termination option …. however, that these notice provisions are inapplicable if the Parties negotiate and agree in writing a superseding term extension or lease agreement as between themselves.”
Per that agreement, the city pays $35,220.50 per month with a 3 percent increase per year for the nearly 36,500 square-foot space. That’s on top of $63,000 a year in in utilities, nearly $86,000 in taxes and more than $176,000 in Common Area Maintenance charges. Those “CAM” charges are currently being disputed by the city, which is in a legal battle with the landlord. The city currently owes nearly $186,000 in “CAM” fees, according to the landlord’s attorney.
The letter charges Mantello has engaged in “ad hominem” attacks on First Columbia and says it endangers a longstanding business relationship between the company and the city.
At last week’s meeting, the council’s Democratic minority pushed back on the idea. Council President Sue Steele called the move “premature.” Speaking with WAMC Thursday, Steele says the administration’s lack of communication with the council continues.
“We've not been involved at all in this process. So, we raised that question at our city council meeting, and the corporation counsel felt that the city's actions were defensible, and so here we are,” Steele said. “The landlord believes otherwise, that the wording would imply that the city council should have been involved and should have approved a city hall site other than First Columbia.”
Councilor Ryan Brosnan, a Republican representing District 2, says the city’s continued investment in a space the city doesn’t own is not in the interest of taxpayers. Brosnan contends the city is “within its rights to terminate our lease early based on the city moving to its new permanent space.”
Council Democrats, who have long been concerned over the state of city finances, say the city has more important priorities like replacing lead contaminated-pipes, constructing a firehouse in the city’s Lansingburgh neighborhood, completing renovations at Knickerbocker Pool, and finalizing ongoing union negotiations.
