Potential municipal parking lot, other uses eyed
Gibsonville’s aldermen are moving ahead with plans to purchase the former Dixie Belle mill along Eugene Street in the downtown area.
During a special meeting in closed session on September 20, the board considered the property for possible downtown parking and other, unspecified purposes.
The board agreed during the closed session to offer $400,000 for the property, which is owned by SFA Rentals LLC.
Ben Baxley, Gibsonville’s town manager, said the potential use, or uses, of the building is not yet fully known.
“We’re going to see what’s salvageable,” he told the newspaper in an interview this week.
The westernmost portion of the building has had a roof collapse, which has prompted the town to rope off parts of Eugene and Wharton streets for fear that the walls at that end of the building, listed as 138 Eugene Street, are unsound, according to Baxley.
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In addition to the possibility that the unstable portion would be torn down for a town-owned parking lot, Baxley said other potential uses for the 78,060 square-foot-building are “to be determined.”
Gibsonville’s fire chief, James Todd, told the aldermen during the closed session in September that because of the mill’s current condition, the fire department would not enter the building should there be a fire, according to minutes from that meeting released this week.
The board agreed during its September closed meeting to contract with Sean Dowell to act as the agent on behalf of the town. The contract allows 30 days for due diligence and 30 days to close, according to the minutes.
The mill building, which was a cornerstone of Gibsonville’s vibrant textile history for decades, sits on a total of 4½ acres.
Meanwhile, the issue arose on this week’s board of aldermen agenda because the board agreed to a resolution exempting potential engineering services from the state’s requirements for seeking bids for such services.
Because the anticipated price of the engineering, surveying, construction management-at-risk services, and design-build services is less than $50,000, the state-mandated threshold for requiring bids, Baxley asked the board to approve the resolution exempting the solicitation and evaluation of firms to perform “design services” from the bid requirements of state law.
The board voted 5-0 to do so.
