I asked City COO Tamara Fountain about the RFP for the CMP parcels that changed the fee agreement for the broker CBRE. She said that she believed that it was former City Administrator Colleen Castille who approved the RFP and the new fee structure, but she is trying to confirm it.
Fountain said, “Ed Spears issued the RFP without having the CMPA Board approve it. I think CBRE assumed Spears brought if before the CMPA Board. This is the reason CBRE was surprised when they got push back from the CMPA Board yesterday.”
She wrote the original Exclusive Sublease Listing Agreement CMP Listing Agreement had the city paying CBRE a sublease commission of 4 percent of the total value of any new sublease including escalations for the term of the lease. The term is capped at 30 years.
In the RFP – that was dated August 8, 2014 and issued in September 2014 – had CBRE being paid a 4 percent success fee based on the overall total project value. The success fee is paid by the developer not the City, and CBRE is not paid the sublease commission of 4 percent of the total value of any new sublease on top of the 4 percent success fee.
Fountain said, “CBRE does not get paid both fees.”