News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
McMinnville’s Blue Building has been declared surplus, opening the door to a potential sale.
City Administrator Nolan Ming said the city will only accept an offer that makes sense financially. Ming said the 2008 appraisal of $1.35 million still stands but the value will come down to who the buyer is.
“Determine what’s there, is it safe, those kinds of things,” Ming said. “What’s the value of the property? And that’s a tough one given the fact that there’s nothing really like it around that’s sold recently.”
Ming said it is difficult to say how much value the Blue Building adds to the property, but it could to the right buyer. Ming said the final true value of the property was appraised at $850,000 but that includes the cost of demolishing the building.
“I think if you were to take that property without any building on it, it would be a very valuable property,” Ming said. “To the public, to any private company wanting to invest here in our community.”
Ming said the city wanted to take this first step toward selling the property, and the board of aldermen are ready to take offers. Ming said the steps on how to best do that are what comes next.
“Working with our city attorney to identify appropriate processes given the different means of selling or auctioning the property,” Ming said. “Whichever the board chooses, we’re going to identify the steps for each of those options and go from there.”
The Franklin P. Blue Municipal Building its core built in 1916 and held city offices 11 years ago. Previously, Ming said during the last tour of the building it had incurred water, roof and flooring damage.
