Commission to consider sale of former library building Monday

What has become a sensitive matter for some will be front and center Monday evening as Alachua city commissioners again consider a contract to sell a surplus building currently being used by a local theater group.

During the April 11 City of Alachua commission meeting, supporters of the Alachua Children's Theater raised concerns about the city’s sale of the building referred to as, “The old library.”  In light of those concerns, commissioners tabled the contract to sell until city staff could investigate the history of the building and the process by which it was being sold.

Among the claims made was that the City wasn’t legally selling the property because it was allegedly purchased for $1 with strings attached, and that the building couldn’t be sold separately from two adjacent lots since they were part of the same tax parcel.  It was also stated that the city hadn’t properly followed its surplus guidelines in the process of advertising and declaring the property as surplus.

In a report to be presented at the April 25 commission meeting, City staff disputes the allegations.  Once serving as the Alachua County Library District’s Alachua Branch, the roughly 2,500 square foot building was purchased in 2000 by the City of Alachua for $85,000, not $1 as claimed by some at the April 11 meeting.  The three lots are combined into one tax parcel for purposes of tax parcel designation and billing, but are platted as three separate lots, the report states.  According to city records, the commission held public meetings about the property on seven separate occasions beginning in May 2010.

Following an agreement approved by the city commission on March 15, the property was listed with a real estate broker with a sale price of $175,000.  By April 7, two offers, one for $135,000 and another for $168,000, had been received and rejected.  On April 7, the city was given an offer of $175,000, the full asking price.  It is that offer the commission is expected to consider Monday.

Carol Jackson, administrator of the theater, stated that she had sought partnerships and investors and was prepared to make a bid to purchase the building, but according to City officials, no bid has been received from the theater group.