When the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission openly defied state lawmakers with a slim 10-6 vote to use toll dollars to buy and rehab a San Francisco building for use as regional agencies' hub, it triggered a big question: What will it cost?

And we're not talking only about money.

The chairman of the Legislature's audit committee, two East Bay Assembly members and a trio of powerful state senators, including the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, oppose it.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand why you would want to incur the wrath of my colleagues in Sacramento," Assembly Member Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, told the commissioners.

In what form that wrath will materialize remains unknown, but no one doubts it will arrive.

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, is researching whether state lawmakers could strip the commission of its authority over toll dollars or place tighter controls on its use. The Legislature gave them the job a few years ago because the regional agency had a superior credit rating and could borrow construction cash for less cost.

Joint Legislative Audit Committee Chairman and Assembly Member Ricardo Lara, D-South Gate, also specifically asked the commission to hold off on the purchase until the state finishes an audit requested by DeSaulnier.

In the meantime, DeSaulnier has started another round of regional governance reform hearings that could revive contentious talk of merging agencies including the commission, Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.


"As someone who has served on three regional Bay Area agencies over a span of 10 years, I can tell you that regional governance is going to change dramatically," DeSaulnier said.

"And I don't believe that, in the end, that building in San Francisco will be the regional agencies' headquarters."

That building is 390 Main St., a former U.S. Post Office and military supply depot where the commission, air district and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission propose to relocate.

But the commission's vote on Wednesday only authorized the commission to bid. The private investors who bought the building in June 2010 for $60 million say they have other suitors.

Normally, one would admonish the buyers to beware.

But given the heat on this deal, the sellers may want to keep the adage in mind.