Pictured is the current Secretary of State driver services facility located at 511 Illinois Avenue in Waterloo. (submitted photo)

A spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s office confirmed last week with the Republic-Times that the driver services facility in Waterloo is looking to change locations in 2017.

A lease on the current facility at 511 Illinois Avenue is up at the end of January and the owner has put the property up for sale at a price of $140,000.

“We have a lease, which terminates at the end of January. In the meantime, we are looking for a new facility location, with our intent being to stay in the area,” Secretary of State deputy press secretary Henry Haupt told the Republic-Times. “It is our goal to select and finalize a new location as soon as possible.”

The driver services facility has operated out of the Illinois Avenue location since at least the 1980s. Ongoing state budget issues have caused irregular payments, and the Secretary of State’s office has requested improvements to the building.

Jay Huetsch, the attorney representing the building’s ownership, said the current lease expired this past July but the Secretary of State’s office exercised a six-month option to extend the agreement to Jan. 31, 2017.

The Secretary of State’s office provided a list of requested repairs to the building as part of the most recent lease negotiations, including replacement of an HVAC unit that is only one year old, new siding, new roofing and a larger parking lot.

The initial repair request estimate came to $76,000, Huetsch said, but was later revised to about $50,000. There has been no movement in the lease negotiations from that point, leading Huetsch to believe the facility is moving on.

“We’re assuming their plan is to move the facility,” he said. “So with that in mind, there was a decision to either sell the property or convert it into a home.”

A 90-day termination clause is included in the lease agreement, Huetsch said, making it tough for the owners of the building to buck up for repairs knowing it could all be for naught.

“It’s going to be difficult to find any business partner or investor to stick that kind of money into something for a tenant that can give three months notice to leave,” Huetsch said.

The Secretary of State’s office was looking for a larger space to accommodate Monroe County’s increased population during the prior lease arrangements.

Shortly after the five-year lease renewal was signed for the Illinois Avenue facility in the summer of 2011, Haupt said his office was researching the possibility of moving.

“Ideally, we’d have a larger space,” Haupt said at that time.

In August 2011, the Secretary of State’s office sought proposals for an existing building in Monroe County of 2,500 to 3,000 square feet with 25 parking spaces and a 110-foot-by-50-foot paved area for motorcycle testing.

The current facility is only 1,472 square feet in size.