What if your landlord is the city of Durango?
Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio, is among the properties owned by the city and leased back to an operator for a nominal “rent” — often $1 a year. Powerhouse closed last weekend amid financial difficulties. The organization is evaluating when and how it could reopen.
The city has somewhat different agreements with Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave., and Hillcrest Golf Club, 2300 Rim Drive. Other groups, including the Southwest Colorado Council of Governments and Trails 2000, use space in the Carnegie Building, and the former public library at east Second Avenue and 12th Street is owned by the city.
Powerhouse, an educational science center, opened in February 2011 in a defunct alternate-current power plant that was built in 1893. The property had been boarded up since the 1970s.
“It was just an abandoned little place,” said Greg Hoch, the city’s director of Planning and Community Development.
Nana Naisbitt, Powerhouse’s executive director, said such lease agreements are common. She pointed to similar examples in Telluride and Crested Butte.
“Towns enter into these types of agreements in a win-win relationship because they believe these nonprofits will contribute to the culture of the town and the economy,” she said.
In this case, Naisbitt said, “The Powerhouse raised the money to improve the building, which is a city asset.”
The property was not exactly ripe for private development. Hoch said the city had received no inquiries for private development of the property before the Powerhouse Science Center took over.
The building is not connected to the city’s sewer system, making it less than ideal for other uses. Powerhouse brought in auxiliary restrooms that are located immediately south of the building, and staff members work out of a nearby building.
The 8,008-square-foot building has a relatively new roof that was installed about 10 years ago. A city inspector in 2009 noted the interior is “still very rough.” Asbestos was removed in recent years.
The city of Durango entered into a lease with Children’s Museum of Durango – the predecessor to Powerhouse Science Center – on May 29, 2007, according to a copy of the lease provided to The Durango Herald in response to a public records request. The museum requested the lease to facilitate raising money to redevelop the property.
The lease is for a period of 25 years, for $25. It includes an option for an additional 10 years for $10 more.
The agreement gave each side outs. The city could terminate the lease with 90 days notice if the museum failed to meet certain fundraising goals leading up to the project’s $4.5 million total cost.
The museum has the right to terminate the lease, also with 90 days notice, if the museum determines “in its sole and absolute discretion that museum’s development of the museum facility on the premises is not feasible or otherwise appropriate.”
The city also agreed to share certain development costs with the museum, including parking lot construction, removal of a city-owned storage building, landscaping, sidewalk installation, lighting and utilities extension.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
A photo caption has been corrected. Durango Arts Center does not lease its building at 802 East Second Ave. from the city of Durango. DAC owns the building.
