City may purchase Agapion property at corner of Cedar/Friendly
The city is working to purchase property owned by landlord Bill Agapion at the corner of Cedar Street and Friendly Avenue, City Council member Robbie Perkins revealed at the tail end of Tuesday's six-hour council meeting.
The city has a contract to purchase the property for $1.65 million, Perkins said. Council members directed staff to present options for paying for the property at council's briefing session Nov. 22, with final action on purchasing the property likely coming at the council's Dec. 6 meeting.
Perkins said the city plans to clean up Agapion's property, combine it with a small piece of city-owned property on Friendly and put it out to bid. Five developers have already expressed interest in the property, Perkins said.
The News & Record reported back in September that the city was working to turned the fire-wrecked apartments owned by Agapion at 211 N. Cedar St. over to a private developer. City inspectors had cited the property for thousands of building-code violations prior to a June fire that destroyed the complex while it was undergoing repair.
Also late Tuesday, the city committed itself to spending no more than about $200,000 to move some storm sewer lines under the site of some condominiums planned as part of the first phase of the Bellemeade Village project on Smith Street.
The city will pay for the project with bond money originally targeted for the Church Street streetscape project.
More to come on both of these items Wednesday after Scoop gets a couple hours sleep.
Comments (3)
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"The city will pay for the project with bond money originally targeted for the Church Street streetscape project."
Help me out here, Eric. I'm not a bond expert but it the bond was for one purpose, how can the city change that purpose without input from the citizens who passed the original bond? Also, why is the city paying to move the sewer lines? If Bellemeade Village is a private venture, why doesn't the developer pay the $200,000?
Posted on November 16, 2005 10:27 AM
Mad Dog,
Good questions. I checked with Ben Brown, an assistant city manager with the city.
On the issue of whether the bond money can be shifted to another project, Brown said it can as long as it's for a project with a similar purpose - and both projects involve street improvements. The Church Street project has been delayed, and Brown said the money will be replenished when the project is ready to go forward.
Your second question dealt with why the city would do this work for a private entity.
Brown noted that the storm sewer pipes, which collect rain and other runoff from the street, would be there regardless of whether Bellemeade Village or an empty lot was present.
The city also prefers to have the storm sewer pipes in public right-of-ways instead of on private property. At some point, Brown said, the city would have moved the storm sewer pipe anyway. The request from the developer just sped up the timetable.
Hope that helps.
Posted on November 16, 2005 2:56 PM
It seems that the Church Street improvements have really fallen out of favor with the City for some reason.
When the library was completed and the Children's Museum was installed across the street, making that area more "pedestrian friendly" was a high priority.
Now, with new initiatives in downtown such as the impending Bellemeade development, right-of-way improvements in the oh-so-yesterday's-news "Cultural District" is off the radar screen.
Sounds like the City has a pretty bad case of ADD.
Posted on November 16, 2005 5:37 PM