McMinnville officials are the proud owners of the Pacesetters property. A behind-the-scenes deal has been struck for $375,000.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved purchase of the property Tuesday night, a deal discussed during two executive sessions held in March between city officials and city attorney Tim Pirtle.
Executive sessions are closed-door meetings. They cannot be attended by the public or covered by the media.
“Pursuant to the authority that was extended to me at the executive session, I engaged a real estate buyer’s agent who inspected the premises of Pacesetters inside and outside. We did a drone survey of the roof, which appeared to be in reasonably good condition. He did some market research and looked at comparable sales. We extended authority pursuant to your direction at $375,000 and that offer was accepted.”
Consideration toward purchasing the property stemmed from a project by Tennessee Department of Transportation to extend Magness Drive to the bypass and an estimate of $598,200 given to purchase right-of-way property.
TDOT’s original estimate was $133,800. However, after surveying the area, TDOT increased its estimate to $598,200 due to the Pacesetters property.
Cost of TDOT right-of-way acquisition is shared 50/50 with the city of McMinnville. However, that will not apply to the Pacesetters purchase because only the Pacesetter’s dock area was in the right of way.
City officials decided to pursue buying the whole building on their own instead of just the right of way.
The building is 17,280 square feet and comes with 4.63 acres. According to the buyer’s agent, there is buildout office space and conference room space and 4,400 square feet has HVAC.
According to city administrator Nolan Ming, the city has already paid $144,300 to TDOT toward its portion of right-of-way acquisition. Rather than requesting those monies be returned, he’s going to suggest TDOT redirect it to other aspects of the project in which the city owes money.
“The $260,000 in construction costs that we owe for the sidewalk/ crosswalk that we added at the intersection and down Magness Drive still applies,” said Ming. “I will suggest to TDOT that they reallocate the $144,300 that we’ve paid in right-of-way acquisition costs to the construction cost of $260,000 for the sidewalk/ crosswalk.”
City officials requested TDOT include a sidewalk and pedestrian crosswalk when a new intersection is created on Highway 70 connecting it to Magness Drive. The state approved the request, but only at the city’s expense. That cost was estimated at $260,000.
More behind-the-scenes dealings are underway.
“I’m going to ask for a 5-10 minute executive session at the end of this meeting to talk about the next phase,” said Pirtle.
Executive sessions are closed meetings between city officials and the city attorney. They are intended to protect the confidentiality of sensitive matters. If those meetings are used for formal voting, those decisions must be ratified by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen during an open meeting.
McMinnville’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously to ratify the decision made within last month’s executive sessions to purchase the Pacesetters property for $375,000. Being an ordinance, a second consideration is required when the board meets April 27.
