HOT SPRINGS -- The Hot Springs Board of Directors voted 6-0 in a specially called meeting Thursday afternoon to offer $680,000 for the purchase of the Majestic Hotel complex.
City Attorney Brian Albright said the owners of the more than 5-acre complex asked for terms from the city that included the purchase price of $680,000 and a condition that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency release them from responsibility once the city takes ownership.
City Manager David Watkins said the money for the purchase would come from the city's fund balance, and the cash for demolition and cleanup of the property would come from the general fund.
Albright said the offer will be void if not accepted by 5 p.m. Tuesday. If accepted, closing would take place within 30 days of the agreement. The city would take possession on closing, and anything on the property would become city property, he said.
"We have inspected the property and deemed it to be an unsafe structure, with multiple violations cited on the property, which are going through a court process," he said.
Albright said Garrison Hassenflu, the registered incorporator of Park Residences Development LLC, the owner of the hotel complex, is expected to plead no contest Wednesday to several hundred code violations. Any sentencing regarding those violations will be suspended pending closure of the sale and will be thrown out if the sale is consummated, he said.
Albright said the city would take acceptance of the property "as is," with no warranties.
Watkins said that if the city takes ownership of the property, it will be easier to qualify for grants and assistance to cover some of the costs of removing the rubble of the yellow brick building of the complex, which burned and was razed in February 2014, as well as demolition and cleanup.
The city board condemned the yellow brick building March 18, 2014, less than a month after a fire reduced much of it to rubble. The city condemned the rest of the complex earlier this year.
"The property, which is the entryway to Hot Springs from the north and which serves as the gateway to the city's historic downtown district, is key to ongoing plans for the redevelopment of the downtown area. Acquisition of this property presents an enormous array of great opportunities on several fronts," Watkins said in a news release issued Thursday just before the start of the meeting, which was called Wednesday afternoon.
"Numerous exciting opportunities for redevelopment of the Majestic property have been advanced in the 16 months after the fire. Creation of a city park, a possible performing arts center, a public amphitheater and a thermal pool complex are just a few of the ideas that have been voiced.
"In addition to these possibilities, the acquisition of the property also gives us the chance to meet the city's obligation to provide a safe and aesthetically pleasing environment for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, which is located across Cedar Street and is one of the true treasures of our community," Watkins said.
He said the hotel property is also strategically situated to enhance the redevelopment of Park and Whittington avenues and that the acquisition and potential razing of the buildings at the site would improve the marketability of the Velda Rose Hotel and other properties nearby.
Watkins said the acquisition would also eliminate the prospect of a long and costly legal effort to utilize eminent domain to acquire the property.
"The Majestic property is the entryway to world-famous Bathhouse Row and creates the first impression of visitors entering downtown via Park Avenue from the north," Watkins said in the release.
State Desk on 07/05/2015