News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Highlands Residential Services Board has agreed on a new proposed sale contract for the old Claude Darwin Property Thursday.
The Board originally approved the 11.5 acres to sell at some $3 million. Board Attorney Jeff Jones said as the due diligence process has begun, the building’s age and environmental factors have led to a call to reevaluate.
“If you’re using the old floor tiles they used mastic or the sticky stuff to put the floor tile down that has asbestos in it,” Jones said. “That’s not a problem until you start to rehab a unit and it becomes what they called fryable, and all the particulates get in the air.”
Jones said the company would have to go through asbestos mitigation in order to be able to rehab the units. He said the 60 to 70-year-old utility infrastructure would need to be redone as well.
“5.4 acres of it is in a flood plain and sink hole mitigation area, that limits the amount of floor space that they can add on to these units,” Jones said. “So they’re not going to be able to add on as much floor square footage as what they had originally anticipated.”
Finally, they wanted to consider inflation and construction costs that have changed from the time the contract was originally proposed. The new proposed sale contract sets the property price at some $2 million. Director of Operations Chris Cassetty said the developer intends to rehab the building into more affordable housing units.
“A huge need we have in our community,” Jones said. “And we can’t provide all of that so we’re glad that there’s some private companies that are coming in to try to provide that as well.”
