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EDA weighs sale, long-term lease or demolition of deteriorating community center
Summary
EDA members discussed returning grant funds tied to a proposed multicultural community center and considered alternatives — reallocation to a water tower, sale of the building (with the city retaining land), long-term land leases, or demolition — after consultants found costly repairs and a roughly $3 million funding gap. Staff and members agreed to gather concrete proposals and revisit the site at the December meeting.
The Economic Development Authority spent an extended portion of its meeting discussing the future of a city-owned community center that was the subject of state and federal grant funding for a proposed multicultural center.
Staff said the feasibility work and consultant reports led City Council to discontinue pursuing the project as written; staff will return grant funds and pursue reallocation options, with a new water tower among the options discussed. The city must run grant-funded facilities in the manner originally proposed for a lengthy period (staff cited roughly 25 years), so staff said reallocation would require formal action and a new submission if the state or funder agrees.
Members raised the library’s status — the library holds about five years remaining on its contract at the site — and discussed options to keep the library there via a sublease if ownership or operations change. Several members and staff stressed that the building’s deferred maintenance is extensive: one participant summarized a roughly $3 million gap between available grant money and full renovation costs, another cited an estimated $700,000 roof replacement and RTU replacements “in the hundreds of thousands.” Removing the building and selling or redeveloping the land was discussed as an alternative to an expensive renovation program.
Finance Director Dan Winnick outlined possible sale and lease structures, including selling the building while retaining city ownership of the land with a long-term lease (for example, a nominal $1 land lease for 20–25 years) so the city preserves the underlying land value. “You can structure a sale agreement any which way you want,” Winnick said, describing flexible terms the city could require in a disposition.
Members noted site constraints — the parcel is irregularly shaped, includes city parking, and is roughly 1.3 acres — and that watershed/stormwater rules and parking limitations could reduce buildable area and add cost for any redevelopment. There was no final decision; members asked colleagues to bring one or two concrete reuse, sale, demolition or lease ideas back to the EDA’s December meeting so staff can prepare more detailed financial and planning analyses.
