The county’s largest department could be moving into a new headquarters at the end of the year, if a long-term lease is approved this week.
County supervisors are slated to vote on leasing 132,000 square feet in an office building at 500 N. State College Boulevard, just north of the 5 Freeway in Orange.
It would move the Social Services Agency’s administrative headquarters from its current location at 888 N. Main Street in Santa Ana, where it’s been located since 1997.
The agency has roughly 10,000 employees and handles about $2 billion in annual spending on food stamps, welfare programs, child support services and other programs.
A decision on the $59 million lease has been brought to the board – and delayed – twice in recent weeks.
The lease term, 15 years, appears to be much longer than usual for county offices. For example, the current lease for the agency’s headquarters runs only two years.
It’s also unclear who owns the company the county would be leasing from.
The agreement would be with a Delaware-registered business known as “IX CW 500 Orange Tower, L.P.”
California’s business entity search system doesn’t list a person as an agent for the business, and investment websites don’t list anyone connected to the firm.
Instead, the business’s registered agent is listed as The Corporation Trust Company of Wilmington, Delaware.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at the county Hall of Administration in Santa Ana. Click here for the staff report.
You can reach Nick Gerda at ngerda@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter: @nicholasgerda.