"One of my first meetings in January 1993 shortly after I took office as county executive was with Governor Engler to discuss the purchase of the CVC property," says Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. "This final chapter in a long and arduous process culminates eight years of tough negotiations with the state of Michigan but secures our future growth needs for the next 30 years."

Patterson also pointed out that the county is rapidly running out of room to expand on its current 396-acre site. The county government campus, like the county itself, has experienced tremendous growth over the past 30 or 40 years. In 1951, for instance, only seven buildings totaling 216,000 sf occupied county property. Today there are 32 buildings occupying 1.6 million sf and seven more buildings off-site providing 200,000 additional sf.

There are no immediate plans to use the newly acquired property, but it will be available to accommodate the county's future growth needs well into this century. Pontiac's mayor, Walter Moore, has been criticized for failing to act to buy the property. The city was offered first refusal rights, but did not make an offer during this year's deadline. Many residents had protested the demolition and sale of the former state mental institution, one of the last such institutions in Michigan.