Memorandum

City of Lawrence

DATE:           June 14, 2012

TO:              Mayor and City Commission

FROM:           Dave Corliss, City Manager,

                   Mark Hecker, Assistant Director Parks & Recreation

RE:               Parks and Recreation Facility Maintenance Shop Purchase

Please include the following item on the City Commission agenda for consideration at the June 19^th, 2012, meeting:

Note change in appraisal amount.

Project Description

In February of 2012, fire completely destroyed the Parks & Recreation facility maintenance shop located at 941 East 11^th Street.  This shop housed staff involved with the construction and maintenance of all parks & recreation facilities and also acted as the central storage facility for paper products and janitorial supplies used in all facilities. 

City staff have reviewed a number of possible sites and building options to replace this facility. The search ranged from building a new facility to purchasing available properties. The most cost-effective option is to purchase a property at 1050 East 11^th Street for $394,250.  This property has a building, approximately 10 years-old, that would appropriately house the City functions displaced by the fire.  A staff memo on this property earlier indicated that the appraised amount was $600,000 – this is not correct. A City requested appraisal from Keller and Associates was for the entire set of tracts.  Keller and Associates has provided an additional clarifying letter indicating that the value of the 1050 East 11^th property is between $330,000 and $400,000.  City staff believes that the proposed purchase price remains appropriate for the value of the building.   The City has also inspected the property for its intended use.   The City was seriously considering acquiring this building when it was recently acquired by Robert B. Killough.  Mr. Killough acquired this property as part of a package acquisition of several other adjacent tracts recently as part of his plans, in part, to relocate some of the uses currently underway at 12^th and Haskell.   Mr.  Killough does not  have a specific use for this building and has offered to sell it to the City.  The property has the added benefit to the City of being located directly north of the existing City maintenance facilities at 11^th & Haskell.  Staff is recommending purchase of this facility.

Project Funding

The purchase of this property would be funded by insurance proceeds from the building that was destroyed and the Sales Tax Reserve Fund.

Action Request

Authorize the City Manager to negotiate the purchase of property at 1050 East 11^th Street, for use as a Parks and Recreation maintenance facility.