Costs soaring for Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s new HQ

The old Embarcadero Postal Center at the corner of Main St. and Harrison St. in San Francisco was purchased in 2011 to house regional government agencies. The old Embarcadero Postal Center at the corner of Main St. and Harrison St. in San Francisco was purchased in 2011 to house regional government agencies. Photo: Thomas Webb / The Chronicle Photo: Thomas Webb / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Costs soaring for Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s new HQ 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The price of rehabbing the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s newly purchased headquarters has more than doubled to $155 million since day one — making the agency’s move to San Francisco look more and more like the Bay Bridge of building deals.

“I’d like to say this is it, but I can’t,” commission spokesman Randy Rentschler said of the latest price tag. “With construction costs, it’s never truly over until you move into the building.”

Like the construction of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge — which the commission helped oversee — the agency’s move from Oakland to the former post office building at 375 Beale St. has turned into a Pandora’s box of delays and rising costs.

The latest is a $32 million increase brought on, in part, by a yearlong delay in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lab moving out of the building. That, in turn, led to construction slowdowns. There was also a late-arriving $7 million estimate for an eight-story-tall, open-air atrium that will serve as the new entrance.

The saga of the Beale Street building began in October 2011, when the transportation commission’s board voted to spend about $93 million in toll money for the building and land, plus $74 million to seismically retrofit and rehab the structure.

The idea was that, once completed, part of the building would be rented out to other agencies, businesses and retailers willing to pay top dollar to be in San Francisco.

However, commission officials forgot a few expenses — like furniture and carpeting. So last year, they allocated another $48 million — bringing the total cost to $215 million.

Now comes a proposal to spend another $32 million — upping the price to $247 million.

Much of the money comes from the tolls collected on the Bay Area’s seven state-run bridges. In other words, the new HQ will cost the equivalent of about 50 million crossings.

And there is still an $18 million contingency fund set aside “for future uncertainty.”

“I wish we had had more of this information going into the deal,” said Amy Worth, an Orinda City Council member and chairwoman of the transportation commission.

“I understand the public frustration,” Worth said. “But when it is done, we will have a public asset — and the way San Francisco’s real estate is going up, it will be a valuable public asset.”

Showdown: As head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano has had her share of political fights — but as University of California president, she may have finally met her match in Gov. Jerry Brown.

The penny-pinching Brown has come out swinging against Napolitano’s idea of hiking UC tuition 5 percent a year for the next five years — saying that if tuition goes up, UC can forget about any extra money from the state.

“The governor has made it very clear that funding increases for UC are contingent on tuition remaining flat,” Brown press secretary Evan Westrup told us.

Rather than raise tuition, Brown — a member of the UC Board of Regents who regularly attends meetings — is calling on the university to reduce spending, offer more online classes and limit faculty and executive pay raises.

To hammer home the message, Brown on Monday appointed former Assembly Speaker John Pérez — who has already gone as record saying the UC tuition plan “takes us in the wrong direction” — to a 12-year term on the board that starts immediately.

“This is a brushback pitch, but a very smooth one,” said one Sacramento insider who has spoken to Brown about the appointment.

The feeling in the Brown camp is that if the tuition hike is approved, it will stir student protests and put pressure on state lawmakers to increase funding to the system beyond a 4 percent bump-up promised for each of the next two years.

Just two months ago, Brown vetoed legislation giving UC an extra $50 million for backlogged building maintenance — something Napolitano pointed out in an e-mail the other day announcing the tuition plan.

Adding to the tension: Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is also a regent, heard about the proposed tuition hikes from reporters.

Newsom wasted little time slamming Napolitano, telling The Chronicle’s John Diaz that the tuition proposal was “disrespectful to the governor” and “tactically naive.”

Reps for Brown and Napolitano huddled in recent days to try to find common ground. It’s worth noting, however, that the two leaders themselves had no last-minute sessions scheduled ahead of the regents’ possible vote on the tuition plan Wednesday.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross