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Top Stories County considers old Walmart property
| County considers old Walmart property |
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| Written by Vicki Hyatt |
| Tuesday, 20 October 2009 21:41 |
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A quarter million dollar roof repair job has prompted the Haywood County commissioners to revisit the issue of acquiring the former Walmart building off Paragon Parkway near Clyde. Dale Burris, the county maintenance director, gave a powerpoint presentation showing leakage damage to the roof on the county’s education administration and social services building. The roof on the DSS portion of the building was replaced in late ’80s or early ’90s, but the roof membranes have shrunk, pulled away from walls and allowed water to penetrate. The board of education section was replaced in 2005, but there is a problem where the rubber meets the parapet walls that is allowing leaks. The problem is similar to one that happened at the community college after five years, he added. Slides showed rotting tiles and water penetrated plaster in the education portion of the building. “The whole roof needs to be removed, new insulation placed on the roof and tapered to gutters,” Burris said. The estimated replacement cost, including the design fee is $260,000. Commissioner Mark Swanger questioned whether the county ought to commit to sinking so much money into a building that had so many other problems, including privacy issues regarding social service office space, heating and cooling issues, accessibility issues that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and other age-related problems with the structure. “To continue putting tax dollars into a building DSS considers one of the worst in the state will be a constant stream of tax dollars going into a building that is almost 80 years old,” Swanger said. “I would ask the board to defer the decision until the county manager has sufficient time to provide updated financials on other options, including the current status of the Walmart buildig and the feasibility of U.S. Rural Development loans. I think we would be remiss to begin marrying ourselves to the building. We’ll face the same thing next year and the year after and at the end of the day we’ll still have a bad building.” Commissioner Bill Upton, who used to work in the building when he was at the helm of the county school system, said the windows were very poor and were another issue that needed to be addressed. Burris estimated window replacement would cost another “couple million,” and said an old building would never be as energy efficient as a newer one. Upton said it is tough to come up with $250,000, especially not knowing what other problems will arise. Swanger noted the roof repair is an unbudgeted expense and asked if there was money in the repair and maintenance budget to cover it. Burris said there was $11,000 in repair and maintenance alloted for the building. Commissioner Kevin Ensley said constructing a new building to meet the social service needs would cost about $20 million. He said while the economy is tough, there are also opportunities that could save millions down the road and wanted to be able to tell his children those opportunities weren’t passed up. Commission Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick said he agreed looking into obtaining office space elsewhere is warranted, but questioned what would happen with the existing structure if the offices were relocated. “If we move out, it is still our building,” he said. “We can allow it to deteriorate but it loses what value it does have.” He asked Burris if there was anything that could be done short-term until the options were weighed. Burris said available resources had been used to put band-aids on and said the staff was having trouble finding where the leaks are because when one area is patched, the leak crops up in another. He said he would do his best to get by. During budget work sessions earlier this year, commissioners explored purchasing the former Walmart building with the help of a 45-year USDA loan and possible stimulus funds for renovation. Because health and social services funding is mandated by the state, there was talk of state help to offset the costs. Ensley researched the site and reported the owner paid $10.8 million for the entire shopping center, and only a portion was leased by Walmart. The space being eyed for office space is 114,000 square feet in the main portion with another 10,000 available in the former garden center. The total square foot needs of the human services departments is 63,000, Burris reported at the time. He estimated renovation costs at $35 a square foot, and leaders believed they could complete with deal for about half the cost of constructing a new building. At the time, it was estimated debt service of purchasing the building would have added 1.7 cents to the rate. |
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