The city's Urban Renewal Agency Commission agreed Tuesday night to purchase the old Greyhound Bus Station at 221 W. Fourth Ave. in the Urban Renewal Area, ratified an earlier decision to provide $6,000 to fund a city-wide affordable housing study, hired a part-time administrative assistant, and funded a $56,000 change order for unforeseen repairs to a wall between 322 and 324 Main St. where the Urban Renewal Agency is funding renovations to two buildings it purchased as part of the downtown revitalization plan.
Funding for repairs to the Saenger Theater on Second Avenue were tabled until next month to give Director Maurice Taggart time to gather more information on whether the needed repairs will stabilize the building or be a precursor to additional repair needs.
"We've had some investors interested in potentially partnering with us in the Saenger Theater," Taggart said, but water damage inside the building has threatened its structural integrity.
"For an extended period of time, the Saenger Theater has been rained in," he said. "The second floor fell because of the amount of water that has been in there."
Taggart said the building, which recently received a new roof at a cost to the city of $100,000, has been taking on water through the roof drains after the storm drain collector that carries water from the vertical drains to the main storm drain became blocked or collapsed. Included in the repair estimate also was replacement of damaged roof flashing.
The total estimate was $16,500.
Several commissioners questioned Taggart on the recommended fix and the price tag, wondering if the cost would be a permanent fix or a temporary bandage until another problem crops up.
"So they put a $100,000 roof on it, and it leaks?" asked Commission Secretary Kirby Mouser.
Taggart said the problem wasn't actually water leaking through the roof but rather water backing up through the roof drains from the street and having nowhere to go but inside.
Vice Chairwoman Rita Conley suggested that more information might be needed before the commission could make a decision.
"I want to know what we're going to do to keep us from throwing money down a rat hole," Mouser said.
"This will fix it," Taggart assured him.
"That's what they said about the $100,000 roof," Mouser said.
Taggart said doing nothing would hasten the eventual demise of the building, which he called "a diamond in the rough right around the corner."
"I'm willing to do anything reasonable to save the building," Mouser said. "But we've got to know that the piece we're doing will work."
The commission decided to table the matter to next month.
Two buildings that sit side-by-side on Main Street, sharing a common wall, were discovered to have deteriorated tuck pointing between the bricks, which had left the wall unstable and in danger of collapse. The building contractor, Wagner Construction, estimated the cost to repair approximately 80 linear feet of wall between 322 and 324 Main St. to be $56,000.
The Urban Renewal Agency purchased the buildings and one other on Main Street to renovate and sell or lease to commercial tenants who would complete the build-out to their own specifications.
The commission approved the change order.
The commission also approved creation of a part-time administrative assistant position.
"This will assist me in handling the administrative piece," Taggart said, much of which he said he has been doing on weekends. "Sometimes paying the bills, I've been rushed to get that done because during the week I'm concentrating on other things, and the due dates slip up on me."
The position will pay, Taggart said, between $14 and $17 an hour, depending on experience, and will be for a maximum of 25 hours a week.
The old Greyhound Bus Station was purchased in 2015 by Lloyd Franklin II, Taggart said, and had been converted to a private club, which currently serves as the gathering point for local motorcyclists. He said the plan for the building was to renovate it and use it as a community clubhouse for the housing development planned for the area bordered by West Third Avenue and West Fourth Avenue to the north and south, and by South Pine Street and South Walnut Street to the east and west.
The purchase price is $109,051, and the commission OK'd Taggart moving forward with the purchase.
Lloyd Franklin Sr., Franklin's father, recused from the deliberations and left the meeting when the discussion began.
The commission ratified an earlier agreement approving $6,000 to fund a city-wide affordable housing survey. The initial vote was taken by email Sept. 24 but had to be ratified in person by commissioners to make it legal.