City seeks $5 million for projects; Greenwood wants to buy downtown tower for offices

Greenwood residents still will have to pay for debt even when the city no longer owes money on the community center and other buildings in the Surina Square complex.

The city wants to take out new loans to buy a building to serve as city government headquarters, build an Old Town splash pad and pursue a host of other projects.

Greenwood wants to borrow about $5 million for projects that include buying an office tower out of foreclosure and adding streaming jets of water to the park where the pool used to be. The Greenwood City Council voted 7-2 to give preliminary approval for loans for a new city building, a splash area, a fire truck, police cars and a jet plane hangar and to pay existing debt at Greenwood Municipal Airport.

Specifically, the city would spend an estimated $1.75 million to buy the Presnell Cos. buildings that were foreclosed upon, said attorney Samuel Hodson, who advises the city on a number of issues. Appraisers determined that was the current fair market value and the bank that owns the property agreed to the price last week, he said.

No contract has been signed, but the city has a letter of intent to purchase the four-story building at the southwest corner of Main Street and Madison Avenue, Hodson said. Greenwood plans to have architects and other consultants assess the site and has until the end of November to back out of the deal.

If the city completes the purchase, the plan is to move city employees out of their offices at the city building at 2 N. Madison Ave. and office space on Emerson Avenue and relocate them into a single office building. Greenwood no longer would pay an estimated $113,000 a year on rent for leasing space for city offices.

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