News alert: More Bridge Center lease details

Daily Report has obtained a copy of the five-year lease agreement between Recovery Innovations Inc., the private company that will operate the Bridge Center for Hope, and Collis Temple Jr., who owns the Florida Boulevard building that will house the new taxpayer-funded psychiatric stabilization and detox center.

Temple, who was a board member at the time the Bridge Center board decided to locate the facility in his building but has since stepped down, made the document available. Hours earlier, reports surfaced that RII and the Bridge Center board refused a records request for the document, saying the lease was not a public document because it was privately negotiated between RII and Temple’s firm.

The Bridge Center is publicly funded by a dedicated property tax that generates some $6 million a year and was approved by voters in December 2018.

Despite RII’s position, Temple told Daily Report earlier today he believes in transparency and had no problem making the document public. Temple sent the lease to the Bridge Center board’s attorney, Murphy Foster III, who forwarded the document to the media.

The document contains few surprises, as the general terms—$1.1 million over five years—was already known. But questions had arisen over why the nonprofit agency, which is funded by a 1.5-mil property tax and Recovery Innovations Inc., which will operate the center, refused to disclose it.

According to a review of the lease, which was executed Feb. 1 between RII and Temple’s Human Resource Group, RII will pay a base rent beginning this year of $206,640 for 17,220 square feet of clinic space. That amount will increase slightly each year to $223,673 by year five of the agreement.

Additionally, RII will pay an additional $67,800 per year during the duration of the lease, or $339,000 total, for some 6,780 square feet of storage.

RII will have an option to extend the lease for two additional five-year terms. If the company exercises the option, base rent will increase 2% each year.  

Additionally, RII agrees to pay Temple $150,000 to demolish the interior of the building, seal the flooring and secure a new roof. RII, in turn, will complete the buildout of the facility, which will include two crisis suites, a detox suite and a respite suite. See the full lease here.