Mebane’s city council decided Monday night to buy another building and lot behind city hall and the city’s planning department, the second time in as many months that the council has done so.
This time the purchase was for $1.046 million to buy the ReMax Diamond Realty building at 202 South Fifth Street owned by Mickey Tripp.
Coupled with last month’s purchase of Dr. David Hoyle’s dentist office at 200 South Fifth Street (the corner of South Fifth and Wilson streets), the city will now own about one acre across Wilson Street from the city hall and the city’s planning department, which is itself is housed in a former bank building.
In both cases, city officials said the purchases would allow for additional office space for “a couple of offices [later defined to be two or three] for in the inspections department or planning department,” according to city attorney Lawson Brown.
Council member Katie Burkholder, a realtor with the firm, described herself as a “rent-paying business tenant” in the building and asked to be, and was, recused from the council’s consideration of the purchase.
Tripp approached the city, according to Brown, who also added that Tripp had offered to finance the city’s purchase at a 3 percent interest rate over 10 years.
The city ultimately proposed a $368,069 down payment, with the balance of $677,931 to be financed over 10 years at $79,474.19 annually (or $794,741.90, cumulatively).
Brown explained that the council doesn’t normally need to have a public hearing on property purchases – and it didn’t last month when purchasing the dentist’s office.
However, because the loan amount for the purchase is over $500,000, the Local Government Commission (LGC) requires a public hearing; the purchase and its financing must also be submitted to the LGC because of the amount being financed.
The three lessees of the building will be able to keep their leases, Brown described, “with the eventual goal as the city grows of [the city] taking over that building.”
Two of the lessees – the Canady Law Firm and Walker Brothers Real Estate – have three-year leases, with the latter having a further option for a three-year extension. Union Home Mortgage currently has a month-to-month lease, Brown outlined, but would be signing a year’s lease with the city.
The city will receive the rents from the three current occupants.
In the case of the Hoyle building, Mebane city manager Richard White, III told the council last month it’s possible the property could be used for offices or a future city building; earlier, additional city hall parking had been listed as a possible purpose for the purchase.
“The campus will be growing in that direction in any event,” Brown said.
Daphne Schwartz, the city’s finance director, explained that an inquiry to a private bank about financing the purchase had resulted in a rate higher than the 3 percent offered by the seller.
Alamance News publisher Tom Boney, Jr., present to cover the meeting for the newspaper, expressed concerns that the city had not provided any advance notice to the public about its interest in purchasing the building.
“This is an awfully big item not to have had any advance notice to the public,” Boney said.
There had been no notice to the public before either the Hoyle or Tripp building purchases that the city was interested in buying either one, but the scale of the Tripp purchase, of over $1 million, really deserved more advance public notice, Boney said.
The council ultimately approved the purchase of the property, and the plan to submit the financing to the LGC for approval unanimously, 4-0. Voting in favor were mayor pro tem Tim Bradley, and council members Sean Ewing, Montrena Hadley, and Jonathan White; Burkholder was recused from participation.
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