Hillsboro: Police Seek 3-Year Lease Extension for Tanasbourne Precinct as New Headquarters Targets Early 2028
- Hillsboro police would stay in their Tanasbourne precinct for up to three more years under a lease extension the City Council is set to consider on Tuesday, Oct.
- The extension with Pacific NW Properties is on the council's consent agenda, a list of routine items usually approved together in one vote, with a recommendation from the council's Finance Committee.
- According to the staff report, the target date to finish building the new police headquarters is early 2028.
Hillsboro police would stay in their Tanasbourne precinct for up to three more years under a lease extension the City Council is set to consider on Tuesday, Oct. 20, while the department waits for its new headquarters to open.
The extension with Pacific NW Properties is on the council’s consent agenda, a list of routine items usually approved together in one vote, with a recommendation from the council’s Finance Committee. The current lease on the 15,719-square-foot east precinct runs out on Aug. 31, 2027. The department has been a tenant there since 1999.
Why the city wants three years
According to the staff report, the target date to finish building the new police headquarters is early 2028. The city wants the lease to cover the time it takes to finish construction and move two precincts into one building.
The landlord’s minimum term is one year, the report says, and a three-year term gives the city “ample flexibility” if construction runs late. If the project stays on schedule, the city can end the lease after the first 12 months without penalty by giving 180 days’ notice, rather than the year’s notice the report says is usually required.
What it would cost
The base rent rises 5% in the first year of the extension and 3.5% in each of the next two years. The report calls that within typical market rates for a short-term lease.
| Lease period | Monthly rent | Yearly total |
|---|---|---|
| Current lease (through Aug. 31, 2027) | $20,813 | |
| Sept. 2027 to Aug. 2028 | $21,854 | $262,248 |
| Sept. 2028 to Aug. 2029 | $22,619 | $271,428 |
| Sept. 2029 to Aug. 2030 | $23,410 | $280,920 |
The yearly totals are our calculations from the monthly rents in the staff report. If the city stays for all three years, the extension would cost $814,596 in base rent. If it leaves after the first year, as the termination clause allows, the cost would be $262,248, or about $16.68 per square foot for the year.
The city’s facilities budget covers the current lease through June 30, 2027. For the stretch from July 1, 2027, through Aug. 31, 2028, the report puts the request at $303,874, which includes the last two months of the current lease and the first full year at the new rate. That money depends on approval of the city’s 2027-2029 budget.
The building it is waiting for
The new headquarters will combine the department’s two precincts on city-owned land at Northeast 25th Avenue and Northeast Beacon Court, near the Hillsboro Airport, the Hillsboro News-Times reported on Oct. 1. The city broke ground in June, and construction is tentatively set to wrap up in December 2027, with the building fully operational no later than February 2028, according to that report. The project has a $95 million budget paid for with bond money and revenue from Hillsboro’s Strategic Investment Program.
Today, the department’s west precinct operates out of a former grocery store on Southeast 10th Avenue, and the east precinct sits in leased office space off Cornell Road in Tanasbourne, the paper reported. City officials have said neither building was designed for police work and both are full.
The Oct. 20 regular session starts at 7 p.m. in the Civic Center Auditorium and on Zoom.
Top image: File photo, 2009: the Hillsboro Police Tanasbourne precinct. Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped; license plate blurred).
