City offered free buildings in Bahama Village
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
An unexpected offer from Keys Energy Services to donate an abandoned diesel generator plant in Bahama Village to the city has drawn both interest and concern.
The 100-plus-year-old plant, which is comprised of three brick buildings totaling almost 11,800 square feet, has been abandoned for the past 55 years. Located at the corner of Angela and Fort streets, the buildings have fallen into disrepair and there may be some environmental clean-up that would need to be done before they could be used again.
But the idea of having a large piece of city-owned property at the edge of the new Truman Waterfront Park, which is expected to break ground at the end of November, is enticing, said City Manager Jim Scholl.
“The location certainly makes it a valuable property for the city. You’re going to have to put a lawnmower somewhere,” he said, referring to maintenance the city will provide for the new waterfront park.
The Keys Energy Services Board of Directors made the as-is donation offer in October, asking that city officials move quickly on the deal. Even if there is no purchase cost to taxpayers, they would still have to approve the acquisition at the ballot box. Keys Energy wants that referendum on the March 15 presidential primary election ballot.
That may prove difficult, however. Scholl said his staff is already working hard to get ballot information to the County Election Supervisor on another referendum, this one to purchase Peary Court. If the city commission votes to move ahead with that purchase, estimated in the mid $50 million, ballot language must be received by the election supervisor by Dec. 15.
“I don’t know if we can make that [Keys Energy building acquisition] and Peary Court work at the same time,” Scholl said.
If the city backs out of the generator complex deal, Keys Energy said it will put the buildings up for sale. The company just had the property appraised at $1.79 million.
But there may be significant costs involved in renovating the buildings for use, Scholl said. A report on the buildings’ condition given to the city by Keys Energy estimates that there are some environmental clean-up costs, including approximately $278,000 to remove lead-based paint from the structure and another $49,000 to remove asbestos. Then there is the cost to remove the four, two-story generators that remain in the plant, although salvagers may be interested in the metal and help reduce that cost.
“The buildings are in terrible shape,” Scholl said. “One of the buildings has a badly-damaged roof. They want to give it to us for nothing. But what’s the cost of preservation, environmental stabilization and clean-up issues?”
At least one commissioner is interested in the deal. Commissioner Jimmy Weekley, while acknowledging all costs have to be thoroughly researched, said he spoke with the Key West Utility Board 30 years ago about acquiring the building for use as affordable housing.
“It’s taken 30 years to get here,” he said about his decades-old idea. “If you hold on long enough, things come back around.”
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Let’s do the math…$55 million for Peary Court. 157 units = $350,318 per unit. Units that do not meet current building code.
0$ + costs to clean up or tear down the building at Angela and Fort Streets…Even if the cost was $1million, would it not be prudent to investigate the costs, and the costs of building elevated (if necessary) modular units or other affordable or workforce housing? I doubt it would cost more than $350,000 per unit. Jim Scholl should be ashamed, and his commitment to developing affordable housing questioned, if he actually said “you’re going to have to put a lawnmower somewhere”! It proves just how much he values the working people of Key West, the neighborhood of Bahama Village and the needs of our entire community. He apparently values his time and that of his staff more, if they can’t take the time to investigate this new option at the same time they are continuing to move forward on the referendum on Peary Court. How much does the City of Key West pay the City Manager and his staff to find solutions rather than offer excuses and put up road blocks? You can bet that none of them are personally worried about being able to pay their rent or whether or not they can afford to continue to make Key West their home. And, apparently none of them is very good at math…
Only in Key West!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The City is offered a piece of PRIME REAL ESTATE and they HESITATE!!! The value of this property is estimated to be worth about 1.8 MILLION DOLLARS!!! WHY? Because it might have to spend $300,000 to clean it up and make it usable!!! Take the FREE PROPERTY, sell i, and let a Developer worry about the clean up.
At the same time they are contemplating BUYING a piece of property for 15 to 20 MILLION DOLLARS more they they could have bought it for 5 years ago. A property that is currently paying TAXES OF MORE THAN $11 Million!!!