Politics & Government
Montgomery College to buy Goldenrod Building for $16 million
Goldenrod Building houses the Germantown Innovation Center. Montgomery County Council must approve the transaction.
Montgomery College plans to buy the Goldenrod Building in Germantown for $16 million, once its five-year lease with a Silver Spring-based firm ends Sept. 30.
The purchase requires approval from the Montgomery County Council, whose education committee is expected to consider the college’s request during its meeting today in Rockville.
The Goldenrod Building, adjacent to the college’s Germantown campus, is owned by Royco Inc. and houses the county’s Germantown Innovation Center, a 45-office business incubator on the second floor.
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Montgomery College occupies the building’s first floor.
Under the new agreement, Montgomery College would lease the building from the Montgomery College Foundation; the county would sublease the building from the college, said Montgomery College spokeswoman Elizabeth S. Homan.
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Homan said the cost of the new lease had not been set, but said it is expected that there would be no difference between the current $1 million lease payments to Royco and the future lease payments to the foundation, which will allow the college to ultimately acquire the building.
The college would continue its 20-year sublease to the county at half the annual lease cost, Homan said.
The Montgomery College Foundation, the college’s nonprofit fundraising arm, plans to use proceeds from bond sales to buy the building, according to documents the college submitted to the county. The foundation would use the college’s lease payments to repay the Montgomery County Loan Revenue Authority, which sold its bonds and lent the proceeds to the foundation. The Loan Revenue Authority would use the lease payments to pay back bondholders, according to documents submitted to the county.
On June 20, Montgomery College’s Board of Trustees authorized the purchase of the building and approved various agreements related to a bond offering managed by the college, the foundation and the Loan Revenue Authority.
Homan said the final lease amount would be set after the bond offering.
The County Council has scheduled a public hearing for the request Tuesday, July 19 – the same day it is expected to vote on it.
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