DETROIT — Wayne County Executive Warren Evans has announced plans to consolidate County office space.  The move is expected to eventually save nearly $3 million annually in rent and maintenance costs and increase efficiency in County services.  

The County-owned Guardian Building is the most underutilized facility in the County’s portfolio of properties. County departments occupy less than 40 percent of the building and 25 percent of office space is available for lease, while other County owned facilities are less than 50 percent occupied.  Consolidating County offices from various leased and owned facilities into the vacant space in the Guardian Building will achieve significant savings.

The first step in realizing the cost savings of consolidation will be the relocation of staff from 640 Temple to the Guardian Building.  Additionally, 18 leased County facilities, encompassing almost 750,000 square feet of space, are also in review for possible consolidation. 

Other locations under consideration for consolidation are the Eloise Complex facility and Juvenile Hall Facilities. 

“Rationalizing the County’s real estate holdings is an important continuation of my effort to reduce County expenditures that begun with the hiring freeze I recently announced,” Evans said.  “With the County’s current dire financial state, my office is immediately implementing opportunities to reduce County expenditures while preserving essential services.”

These actions are supported by a report produced by O’Keefe & Associates, which outlined how to better manage the County’s real estate holdings. The report examines how to reduce costs, better use existing properties, identify potential properties that could be sold and reduce long-term liabilities.

 “This is the first time Wayne County has done a systematic review of its owned and leased properties,” Evans said.  “This report is another tool for making rational decisions on ways to cut costs and help to eliminate the County’s budget deficit.”