Rhodes Less Traveled

Unfortunately, math was never my strong suit — which explains why I’m working as a humble journalist instead of an engineer or something equally remunerative.

But even to my arithmetically challenged brain, the deal negotiated this week to lease space in the Port of Bremerton’s Olympic View Business Park to General Dynamics seems more about PR than profit.

If I understand correctly, the port is leasing the company 9,000 square feet in its Salo Building — or Building No. 1, if you prefer — for $7,648 a month. And considering the facility has been completely vacant for the past 20 months, costing the port about $21,000 a month in lost rents, you might say the lease with General Dynamics is a great deal because it gets you about a third of the way there.

In fact, the port is saying just that.

“We couldn’t ask for a better start than having a nationally known company of General Dynamics’ stature choose the port to be the Kitsap County home for its Electric Boat subsidiary,” said Port Commissioner Cheryl Kincer in a news release this week announcing the deal.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, it’s nice having a prestigious company like General Dynamics in the park. But no, it isn’t the best possible scenario for either the port or the taxpayers.

In order to lure the Groton, Conn.-based contractor to Kitsap, the port agreed to provide an estimated $90,000 worth of upgrades to Building No. 1. In addition, the port paid a 4 percent commission to the Boston real estate broker who put the deal together.

At $7,648 a month, Port Real Estate Director Tim Thomson said the agency expects to recoup its outlay “over the first six years of the lease through revenue from the above-market office rate.”

The problem is, the lease is only for three years. General Dynamics does have a pair of options that could extend the deal to as much as eight years, but you have to wonder why the company would exercise such an option at “above-market” rates.

Which means there’s no guarantee the port won’t spend more than $100,000 of the taxpayers’ money only to see its tenant relocate to a more favorable site before even half of our investment is repaid.

I understand the port’s mission is economic development and General Dynamics will bring an unspecified number of jobs to the region when it moves in by the first of the year.

But I also know Port of Bremerton CEO Cary Bozeman has made a point of promising the agency is on the road to operational self-sufficiency. If so, this potentially money-losing deal was definitely a detour.

Worse, it has the feel of something the port felt compelled to accept in order to squelch criticism from taxpayers wondering why it was taking so long to find a tenant for a building it constructed on spec.

Nothing like having to pay for a prom date just to avoid the embarrassment of admitting you didn’t have one.