McMinnville officials are entertaining the idea of leasing its Magness Drive property, if the price is right.

The city Building and Grounds Committee met to consider a request to lease the Pacesetters building.

“I was approached by a company that was very interested in leasing the property,” said city administrator Nolan Ming. “I told them about the state’s project. They didn’t seem to have any concerns. They thought they could work around that.”

A Tennessee Department of Transportation project will extend Magness Drive and connect it to the bypass.

The name of the business, a trucking company, is being withheld.

“I guess the question at this point is do you want to consider that, period,” said Ming, of a lease agreement.

Alderman Everett Brock asked, “Did they throw you a number out there for rent?”

“We didn’t talk any numbers,” said Ming.

Alderman Steve Harvey asked, “Do you have an idea of this company and its reputation?”

Ming replied, “I don’t. If you would like to pursue the option, I can then go to them and ask for more information and try to get specific with them.”

“I’d rather not lease it at this point in time,” said Brock. “We don’t know what we are faced with. We may want to sell it later on. I think we can, certainly, once the project is complete, do a heck of a lot better than what we paid for it.”

The city paid $375,000. Alderman Stacey Harvey expressed concern for the trucking company performing onsite maintenance on vehicles and that creating the potential for environmental issues due to oil, antifreeze, etc., leaking onto the ground, “Now, if they can assure us that they aren’t going to do maintenance on that site and it will only be a parking lot and office only, that would be different.”

“I would want to know how much,” said Alderman Rachel Kirby. “What do they want to give us for that and for how long? Would they do month-to-month? Would they do termination at-will?”

Brock stated, “It wouldn’t hurt to find out how much money they are talking about and what they are going to do there with it. Again, I don’t want to tie it up to the point where we don’t have some leeway when construction is over. If they are anybody at all, they are going to want a longer term lease.”

No definite date has been given by TDOT as to when the extension of Magness Drive will begin. Consequently no date has been set for completion.

The city Building and Grounds Committee is set to meet on Jan. 25 at 6:35 p.m.

Among the items of business is to receive a report from Ming on discussions with potential lessee of Pacesetters building.