City Council
MEETING DATE: 10/28/2015
TITLE:
Title
Disposition of old Community/Senior Center Building
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FROM:
Tami E. Scott, Administrative Services Director
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council authorize the sale of the old Community/Senior Center to the City Urban Revitalization Corporation at the appraised value of $459,994 for subsequent demolition.
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BACKGROUND:
This is a 9 parcel site located directly to the west of Napa Auto Parts store on East Palm Canyon Drive. A portion of the site was used as the former County Library acquired by the City, through CDBG funds, in 2004. The balance of the site was acquired by the former Redevelopment Agency and was scheduled for demolition in 2005. For a number of various reasons, the site has not yet been demolished and prepared for development.
DISCUSSION:
Two segments of the three section building are currently being used. The former Annex (front West side facing East Palm Canyon) and Community Center section (front East side facing East Palm Canyon) are being used to run a dance program. The program has been operated at this location for 12 years. The owner is aware of the anticipated demolition of the building and will run the program out of the building as long as the City allows but has had no objection to the demolition, just the need for adequate notice. The old Senior Center Section (located in the back of the building) is currently leased to the Coachella Valley Symphony on a month-to-month basis. They, too, would require notice.
The financial history related to maintenance of the building has and continues to be cost prohibitive and consideration and direction is being requested as to what Council would like staff to explore. We run at a loss of an average of $20,000 per year not including public safety issues dealing with the homeless.
In the last 5 years, the building has had a rough paint job (just enough to dress it up a bit); kitchens are inoperable, air conditioners need replacing; we re-purposed some toilets and plumbing from the old Share Kitchen building to keep the bathrooms going; vandalism, theft and homeless issues continue to be a daily challenge. We have ongoing maintenance service problems being handled all the time; the parking lot requires paving; the property as a whole currently does not meet ADA standards etc. To bring this building up to code to properly lease at market rate would be in the vicinity of $750,000 in capital investment. To bring it up to a standard that would be a full rehab would be in the vicinity of $1.3M-$1.5M.
Staff is recommending Council consideration to move forward selling the building to the City Urban Revitalization Corporation ("CURC") as CURC would like to exercise its right under an existing development agreement with the former Redevelopment Agency, at fair market value. CURC would then manage the demolition of the building in spring of 2016, giving adequate notice to current tenants, thus providing an opportunity to concurrently do an RFP to develop the site. This will provide a much needed economic development opportunity for Council to consider in our downtown core as it will be a much larger development site, providing a broader interest from the development community
FISCAL IMPACT:
Demolition estimates to be $195,000 + Asbestos removal of approximately $45,000.
Estimated value for CURC to purchase $5.50sf = 1.92 acres or 83,635sf for $459,994
ATTACHMENTS:
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