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PARK CITY — The Summit County Council met Thursday to discuss a single agenda item — the purchase of the Skullcandy corporate headquarter building from Dakota Pacific Real Estate.
The property's 7.38 acres includes a parking area and the office building, with an indoor skateboard halfpipe, a basketball half court and putting green.
"We have people working out of closets and other such areas right now," said council Chairwoman Malena Stevens.
"We, as a county, have been looking at how we are going to adequately provide services within the buildings that we currently have," Stevens said, adding they are feeling the squeeze.
County staff went through a competitive process last year to consider building a county services building adjacent to the Justice Center, including a library, meeting space for the council and attorney's offices. It became cost prohibitive, according to Councilman Chris Robinson, so they pivoted to remodeling the Silver Summit Justice Center.
That too, was a hard sell, and the county decided to postpone and look for better options.
In February, a subsidiary of Dakota Pacific Real Estate listed the Skullcandy headquarters near the Kimball Junction Transit Center, along with two other buildings they were hoping to sell as a package deal.
Summit County submitted a letter of intent, expressing the desire to buy just the Skullcandy headquarters. The agent agreed to sell for $17.5 million, with a 30-day due diligence period, another 30 days of closing. The deal includes the Skullcandy lease, which will lead to over $1 million in revenue coming into the county every year.
The County Council voted unanimously to sign the agreement in a 10-minute meeting. The 45,000 square-foot, two-story headquarters was built in 2016, and Skullcandy leases the entire building. But because of remote work post-pandemic, it began marketing a sublease of half the building, according to the agent. A press release states the county will "explore potential modifications to the lease with Skullcandy to facilitate shared use of the building to allow for county specific uses."
The agreement comes with an easement agreement that would allow Dakota Pacific to build and dedicate a public road through the Skullcandy property, as a way to access their nearby 50 acres development.
To fund the purchase, the county says it will pledge existing sales tax revenues to pay off bonds issued, but does not intend to increase taxes.
When asked if government employees could expect to grind the rails at the office anytime soon, Robinson said, "Skullcandy has a lease on the whole building. Right now, they're going to be the only ones riding skateboards or shooting hoops, as much as we'd like to."
Robinson, who has shot a fair amount of hoops in his day, said the county will own the building and earn income while they take time to figure out next steps.
