Cookeville Moves Forward With Purchase Option Agreement With County

Cookeville City Council approved entering into a purchase agreement with Putnam County for some 95 acres of land off Highway 111 near Old Sparta Road.

The city purchased 109 acres last year, hoping to use about 16 acres of the land for a potential aquatics facility. City Manager James Mills said the purchase will give the county time to make a decision on the next steps it wants to take to potentially develop the land for a high school.

“It also gets it at a fairly reasonable price, we feel like we got it at a bargain and we’re going to pass it on to the county,” Mills said. “Basically it’s the same price we paid for plus any costs we have incurred by financing it.”

Mills said the county will agree to pay some $5,000 a year for the next five years to the city until it decides to take the next steps with the land. He said should the county decide to not purchase the land, the city will retain the $5,000 per year payment and the land itself. At any time, the county commission can decide to terminate the option for the city to maintain ownership.

Mills said the purchase price is some $30,000 per acre plus accrued five percent interest per year.

“I was a little concerned with some of the comments I heard from the county commission that we were trying to hold them up with the price on this,” Mills said. “We’re asking exactly what we paid for this.”