Greenwood is continuing its streak of buying dilapidated houses and buildings in the Old Town area and either rehabbing them, or tearing them down and turning them into parking lots or green space.
The city will move forward with making offers to buy six properties, including houses, apartment buildings and commercial space, along four streets downtown.
City leaders want to rehab one and demolish the rest for other uses, such as drainage and more downtown parking.
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Two of the buildings, on the corner of Main and Washington streets, would be the first of several property purchases in the block north of the fire department’s headquarters. They city is hoping to redevelop that entire block, said Kevin Steinmetz, capital projects manager, but isn’t sure exactly what that will look like yet.
The properties would be purchased with a mix of tax-increment financing district and storm water department money, Steinmetz said.
The storm water department plans to buy two small houses located at 410 and 412 Broadway Street and create a green space and drainage on the properties, which are next door to one another.
The owner of a small house at 275 E. Main Street, which the redevelopment commission and storm water department will split the cost of, contacted the city because he’s ready to sell, Steinmetz said.
All three houses the storm water department is chipping in funds for are in a flood zone and will be demolished, Steinmetz said.
The total cost of the three properties the redevelopment commission would pay for entirely will likely be more than $350,000.
Those three properties include: 247 W. Pearl Street, 198 E. Main Street and 166 S. Washington Street.
The property at 247 W. Pearl Street, a large multi-family house that was built in 1880, will likely be turned into a public parking lot. The house currently sits between two other lots, one of which is a public lot. The lot could be used by visitors of Walt’s Barber Shop and a couple breweries nearby.
“We have the opportunity to meet one of the redevelopment commission’s long-term goals which is the potential to secure long-term parking. There is a under-sized public parking lot there, and there are a number of businesses that have become more active immediately south of there,” Steinmetz said.
“The public lot at Main and Madison currently serves as a kind of aggregate catch-all parking for everyone. So the hope with this one at this point in time is to expand the parking lot on Pearl Street.”
Another property at 198 E. Main Street sits on the corner across the street from the fire station. The city is looking for ways they could redevelop the space, which has been used as a multi-tenant apartment building and commercial business space, Steinmetz said.
“We will do our due diligence to see if there is a redevelopment opportunity. It does have frontage on Main Street,” he said.
Just north of that building, at 166 S. Washington Street, sits a similar building the city also plans to buy.
“It does not have the street presence or the potential for commercial re-use, so we do imagine that it would probably be slated for demolition, but again, we will do our due diligence on that one as well,” Steinmetz said.
Members of the redevelopment commission want to see final offers for the four properties they are allocating funds for before they’re paid out, they said Tuesday night.
City leaders are anticipating negotiations that may increase the cost of the properties significantly, Steinmetz told commissioners. The redevelopment commission will vote on the final acquisition costs for all properties at its February meeting. They could decide to not buy one or all of the properties.
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Here is a look at six properties the city of Greenwood plans to buy in the Old Town area, how much they’re estimated to cost, how they’re being paid for and what the plan likely is for each:
247 W. Pearl St.: Estimated $102,500, could become public parking lot
198 E. Main St.: Estimated $100,000, could be redeveloped
166 S. Washington St.: Estimated $147,500, could be demolished and redeveloped
275 E. Main St.: Estimated $81,000, could be used for green space and drainage
410 Broadway St.: Estimated $97,000, could be used for green space and drainage
412 Broadway St.: Estimated $43,500, could be used for green space and drainage
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