HILLARY'S GOT THE LEASE WITH THE MO$T
Source: New York Post
Published: 3/19/01 Author: SUSAN EDELMAN and LOIS WEISS
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's new office in Manhattan costs more than any
other U.S. senator's office in the country, a Post survey has found.
Last month, the former first lady moved into a spread on the 26th floor of 780 Third Ave., a stylish 50-story high-rise covered with peach-colored Finnish granite.
The annual cost to taxpayers: $514,149.
Her rent is nearly $90,000 more than the second most expensive U.S. senator's office, Dianne Feinstein's newly leased $424,632 digs in San Francisco, according to the General Services Administration.
New York and San Francisco office-rental markets are the priciest in the nation.
But Clinton, New York's junior senator, picked space that's twice as roomy, has more amenities, and costs taxpayers nearly two and a half times as much as senior Sen. Chuck Schumer's Manhattan office, which is across the street and a block away at 757 Third Ave.
His rent is $209,532 a year, which is also on the high end for U.S. senators, the GSA says. Clinton is renting 7,900 square feet to Schumer's 3,900. Her office costs $65 a square foot compared to his $51. Both leases include electricity.
Clinton's office also costs more than the current average $53-a-square-foot rent in the Grand Central Terminal area where her office is located, according to nationwide brokerage Julien J. Studley.
But real-estate brokers say the government is paying a fair price for her "more prestigious" building - it's newer, designed by one of the city's hottest architectural firms (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) and offers tenants a spacious meeting center and 154-seat auditorium.
"I don't think she's paying too high a rent for the type of building a U.S. senator should be in," said Mitch Arkin of Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world's largest real-estate companies.
"She's like royalty. She's the ex-president's wife. She lived in the White House for eight years, for crying out loud," Arkin said.
But some government watchdogs rapped Clinton's record-setting rental.
"To spend lavishly on her office sends a small but noticeable signal that perhaps she has less respect for the taxpayers than she ought to," said Gary Ruskin of the Government Accountability Project.
"Taxpayers, I think, would smile if the senator had an office with a bit less glitz, but cost us all less."
David Keating, who analyzes congressional expenses for the National Taxpayers Union, was stunned.
"It's inconceivable to me that somebody can spend almost two and a half times more and be from the same state, representing the same constituents," he said. "That's a lot of extra money to spend for getting the same job done."
Clinton aides defended her office as a "real good deal" that meets her needs.
"Given New York's real-estate prices, it would be surprising if a New York senator wasn't at or near the top," said Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy.
"With nearly 60 volunteers and staff members working out of this office on thousands of casework problems, we intend to have one of the best constituent service operations in the country," Kennedy said.
There is no dollar cap on rent for senators' offices, but the price should not exceed the space's market rate, GSA officials said.
The ex-first lady did show fiscal restraint by deciding not to take over the offices of retired Sen. Daniel Moynihan in the Chrysler Building's sky-high 62nd floor, which has breathtaking city views.
Moynihan was a tenant there for 24 years, and his last lease cost about $280,000 a year. But the new rent would have skyrocketed to some $627,000.
Clinton, who was leasing the space temporarily, chose to seek something cheaper.
"It was just way too expensive," said Clinton press secretary Peter Kauffmann.
While shopping for a Manhattan office, Clinton also canceled an appointment to see a space at 320 Park Ave. because the $655,000 price tag was too steep, real-estate sources told The Post.
Clinton's office isn't nearly as pricey as the $811,000-a-year full floor her husband wanted at Carnegie Hall Tower on West 57th Street.
Former President Bill Clinton ditched plans to lease the 56th floor of that ritzy building soon after The Post reported that it would cost taxpayers more than the offices of all four other living ex-presidents combined.
He finally picked the penthouse of a Harlem building, where the rent is expected to be under $300,000 a year. A lease is under negotiation.
"Luckily, we found what we needed," Kennedy said of Senator Clinton's new office at Third and 49th Street, which is six blocks from Grand Central Terminal, three blocks from the United Nations, and one block from the Waldorf-Astoria.
"It lacks the prestige and the views of the Chrysler Building, but it fits our needs," Kennedy said.
Her spread includes a huge room lined with desks and computers for caseworkers, volunteers and interns; a half-dozen private offices for staff; cubicles for other workers; and a kitchen area.
Hallways are paneled in a light wood. There are two conference rooms with large tables. One has clear glass walls and maroon leather armchairs. The other, behind textured glass, has built-in cabinets and shelves.
Hillary's personal office has a huge, uncluttered U-shaped desk with a computer. But she doesn't get to gaze out at the city from her desk. She faces walls.
She still has some decorating to do. The room is furnished with a dingy white sofa and easy chair, and two scratched side tables.
Around the room are several framed photos of Clinton with fellow pols: Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez and former New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
In a corner, President Clinton is in one framed newspaper photo showing Hillary hoisting arms with daughter Chelsea and Schumer after her historic election victory. The president, biting his lip, raises hands with Chelsea.
Built in 1984, the senator's building includes a comfortable and attractive business conference center, which is available to tenants at no extra charge. It offers on-site catering and audio-visual equipment.
It also boasts a terraced 154-seat auditorium with padded chairs and a platform for camera crews.
Clinton has already held two press conferences there.
"As a press secretary, this is so helpful. I don't have to worry about getting the City Hall steps or paying for a room in some hotel," Kauffmann said. "If we want to have a conference with environmental leaders or something like that, boom, we have space."
At Schumer's offices down the street, news conferences are jammed into a hallway area, where there's a copy machine, several tables, and a small fridge and microwave oven.
Recently, Schumer had to hold two back-to-back press conferences on his election-reform proposals because there wasn't enough room for all the reporters and camera crews that showed up.
"It's not so big and not so fancy, but that's the way we like it," Schumer spokesman Bradley Tusk said of the rental.
Besides a large room for caseworkers - who handle more than 10,000 constituent calls a year, Tusk said - and several smaller staff offices, the place has one plain, windowless conference room, which doubles as a storage space packed with documents and office supplies.
Schumer shares his own corner office with Deputy Chief of Staff Costa Dimas. But wraparound windows and neighborhood views make the room bright and dramatic.
Schumer leased his office in July 1999. If rented today, it would probably cost at least 12 percent more, brokers said.
Senators typically have several offices in their home states. Schumer has seven satellite offices around New York in addition to his Manhattan space. Clinton, so far, has set up two others upstate.
HENCH adds: Sorry, I forgot the barf alert.
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