Courts Building Sold for Redevelopment Project
Structure To be Razed; TIF-Financed Hotel Planned for Site
Last updated Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:23 PM CDT in Front
By Dan Craft
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- The sale papers for the Washington County Courts Building were signed Wednesday, four years after the county put the building on the real estate market.
The building is at the corner of College Avenue and Center Street, directly north of the former Mountain Inn. Fayetteville bought the building Wednesday for $413,000 as part of the Mountain Inn redevelopment project.
"I was about ready to pay somebody to take it," said Jerry Hunton, Washington County judge. "It had outlived its usefulness, and it was a liability to us."
The city is purchasing the building with some of the $3.7 million in bonds made possible by a tax increment financing district. A TIF district created earlier this year provides a mechanism for the city to float bonds for redevelopment of blighted areas such as the Mountain Inn.
The county first tried to sell the building in 2000, but a $600,000 offer by Stella Moga, an Ohio-based investor, fell through after several months. Moga did purchase the Mountain Inn, which also was also sold to the city Wednesday.
The courts building has stood vacant since the final tenant, the Washington County Law Library, moved out in the fall of 2000.
The loss of the original sale of the building caused a hiring and spending freeze in county government in 2001 because county leaders had anticipated having the $600,000 sale price in that year's operating budget.
"It was a real mess trying to make things work when that fell through," said Boyd Darling, Washington County comptroller. "I can't wait to see this check, even if it isn't as much as we thought we'd get."
Developers Richard Alexander and John Nock are using funding from the TIF district to fund the $24 million redevelopment.
The courts building and three surrounding properties will be torn down by mid-July.
The developers will purchase the property from the city after the demolition is complete.
The interior of the original Mountain Inn will be gutted. The floors will be renovated but the walls and much of the architectural detail will remain.
The former structures will be replaced with a 12-story hotel that includes 12,500 square feet of meeting space, 144 guest suites, 18 residential condominiums, an observation deck, promenade and rooftop gardens.
Demolition can begin when a contract is approved by the Fayetteville City Council, but is required to begin by May 15 and be finished by July 15.
Construction of the new hotel can begin in mid-July after demolition is complete. A contractor will be hired by the developers to complete the project.
The project is expected to take 15 months to complete, Nock said.
The county will put the proceeds form the courts building into reserve funds, Hunton said.
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