They won the election, but inauguration day is still two months away. What’s a victorious candidate who needs to staff up and prepare for their new role to do in the meantime?
A 1991 state law mandates that non-incumbents elected governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and general treasurer have state-funded space available during the transitional period before being sworn in to office. The responsibility of securing that space falls on the Department of Administration (DOA), which sent two presenters to the State Properties Committee’s meeting on Wednesday. The committee granted their request to begin advertising a request for proposals to rent temporary space from prospective landlords and begin negotiating leases with top applicants.
State law doesn’t dictate any specific criteria for temporary office space for newly elected general office holders, leaving those determinations to the DOA.
Traditional practice has been to recommend office spaces to be 1,500 to 2,000 square feet, said presenter Adam Boudreaux, who is the state’s chief real estate manager and was joined by real estate administrator Danyeli Valerio. The governor-elect’s staff often requires more, Boudreaux said — around 3,500 to 4,000 square feet.
The DOA has also historically recommended spaces be within 2 miles of the State House, with leases from Nov. 1 to Jan. 16.
“The officeholders want to be close by the State House, so it’s traditionally what we’ve done in the past,” Boudreaux told the committee.
The fiscal year 2027 state budget allocates $464,000 for “General Officer Transition Costs,” which is used to hire transition staff and purchase office supplies and equipment, as well as rent space. That’s a 33% increase from the $350,000 budgeted for fiscal year 2023 after the 2022 general election.
Meanwhile, rent prices for office space rose about 16% in the last four years.
The average cost to rent office space in Providence in 2026 is $23.03 per square foot per year, according to one report. At that rate, the maximum size the DOA is searching for — 12,000 square feet — would cost $276,360 for one year, or around $57,500 for roughly two-and-a-half months.
The general election is Nov. 3.
The DOA will only enter lease agreements if transitional space is needed for newly elected officers. That could mean requesting an emergency State Properties Committee meeting after the general election if any nonincumbents prevail and require the space, DOA spokesperson Karen Greco said in an email.
Among the state’s five general office holders, only Secretary of State Gregg Amore is running unopposed.
A lease will definitely be required for the state’s next attorney general because the incumbent is term limited. Four Democrats and one Republican are vying to succeed Attorney General Peter Neronha.
The DOA is planning to finalize lease agreements for at least the next attorney general at the State Properties Committee’s October meeting, Greco said.
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