In a Friday mid-morning news release, the city of Bloomington has announced that it made a $9.25 million offer to purchase the 64,000-square-foot portion of the Showers building that is currently owned by CFC Properties. CFC has accepted the offer, according to the release.
CFC Properties and the city of Bloomington are currently neighbors in the Showers building.
The purchase, which would be made by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC), still depends on approval from Bloomington’s city council, according to the news release.
The agenda for the RDC’s next meeting is set for July 18. The city council’s next meeting is scheduled for July 20. As of mid-morning on Friday, the agendas for those meetings have not yet been posted
The Showers building currently has three occupants: Bloomington’s city hall on the eastern half; Monroe County government in the northern part; and CFC Properties on the western side.
According to the news release, Bloomington is looking at consolidating its police and fire headquarters in the additional Showers building space. The police headquarters on 3rd Street was damaged in the June 2021 flood, as was the fire department headquarters on 4th Street. The fire department is currently operating the downtown station out of the former Bunger & Robertson building at 4th and College, which is four blocks west of the flood-damaged fire station.
According to the city’s news release, the RDC will conduct due diligence on the property, before a purchase is finalized—including environmental assessment, building inspection, remodeling options, land survey, and review of existing leases and contracts.
The deal is also contingent on securing the financing for the project, according to the news release.
[Updated at 3:05 p.m. on July 15, 2022. Responding to an emailed question from The B Square, fire chief Jason Moore wrote that if the fire department administrative headquarters is moved to the Showers building, that will not mean a fire station is operated out of the building. He wrote: “If we do make this move, it would not be a fire station, only the administrative functions for our department.”
Moore continued, “The requirements for a station that houses response personnel are complicated to retrofit into an existing structure. We are still pursuing a separate fire station in addition to moving headquarters (administrative functions) to this new potential site.”
According to Moore, the administrative positions include the chief, deputy chief, assistant deputy chief of administration and planning, two administrative assistants, fire marshal, deputy fire marshal, community engagement officer, and two community care coordinators. ]
Exciting
When I hear, is subject to securing financing. All I hear is a tax increase probably for Monroe County Residents who get no benefits out of it. I absolutely think they both need new building but how does a city government of this size not have the funds to pay for this.