Alachua to buy property to extend downtown parking

The former daycare center at 14919 NW 142nd Terrace is slated to be demolished to make way for downtown parking spaces. Purchase of the property was approved by the Alachua City Commission and will be paid for with Downtown Redevelopment Trust Board funds.

The site of a former daycare is on track to be owned by the City of Alachua thanks to funding from the Downtown Redevelopment Trust Board (DRTB), the city’s community redevelopment agency.  The board voted at a recent meeting to move ahead with an offer to purchase the property located at 14919 NW 142^nd

Terrace.

Alachua City Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to backup that move and gave authorization for the City to offer to purchase the site for $100,000.  The City would also pay 2010 and 2011 property taxes as well as other transfer and closing costs.

The owner of the building has been facing foreclosure and is believed to be offering the deed in lieu of foreclosure.  The DRTB and city staffers have been working with the mortgage holder of the property for several months to reach an agreement.  The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s office lists the property with a market value of $183,600.  It has also been listed for sale by a local realtor for several months.

Located primarily behind Dr. Douglas Adel’s dentist office, which is at the corner of NW 142^nd Terrace and NW 150^th Avenue, the former daycare site would be used to create additional parking in the future.  The DRTB has been mapping and planning for additional parking areas in the downtown area to accommodate future growth.

The site currently has two buildings, one totaling about 1,700 square feet and the other just over 900 square feet.  Based on discussions at the most recent meeting of the Downtown Redevelopment Trust Board, the City would likely demolish those buildings or have them removed from the site to allow for more parking spaces.

The added parking would likely help with the DRTB’s planned reconstruction of NW 150^th Avenue and NW 142^nd Terrance.  That project would create more orderly street side parking, but also encroach on existing dedicated parking in front of merchants on the south side of NW 150^th Avenue.  The purchase of the daycare property would mitigate those lost spaces.

The sale is expected to be finalized within weeks.