The city council unanimously approved the sale of the old Gilmer Inn property on Main Street at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The city entered a contract with Columbus-based financial planning firm Financial Concepts to sell the property for $270,000, City Attorney Jeff Turnage said. The sale includes the upper level and retaining wall of the property, but not the lower parking lot.
The $270,000 price tag is the property’s appraised value, Turnage said.
Financial Concepts CEO Scott Ferguson called the area “a fantastic property right in the heart of downtown.”
“They say home is where the heart is, and we’ve always been located downtown,” Ferguson said. “As we’ve grown, we realized that we needed a bigger space. We wanted to stay in that downtown area and we looked. We think we’ve got an exciting project to not only move our office and build a new space but also have some other elements to it as well.”
Ferguson, Turnage and Mayor Robert Smith said Financial Concepts plans to develop the property for retail and apartment space, in addition to move the business’ main office.
“What they’ll be building is some apartments on the upper level (of the building),” Smith said. “The lower level will be retail and garage space.”
As part of approving the sale, the council passed a resolution declaring the property surplus so that it could be sold for commercial/industrial purposes, which Turnage said allowed the sale to go through more quickly. He added the property should produce both ad valorem and sales taxes once it has been developed.
The city purchased the Gilmer for $425,000 in 2015, after the building became too run down to continue being used as an inn. The building was demolished later that year. In the interim years, the property was briefly considered for conversion into a children’s museum along with the neighboring property, which houses the Elks Lodge.
Ferguson said he hopes to break ground on the property in late summer or early fall and anticipates the building process to take 12 to 15 months to complete.
Last council meeting
During Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmen Charlie Box and Bill Gavin, of Wards 3 and 6 respectively, both acknowledged their final meeting serving on the council and thanked their constituents and fellow council members for their support during their service.
“I’m very grateful and honored to have served this city for 12 years,” said Gavin, who after three terms on the council lost his re-election bid during the Ward 6 Republican primary to incoming councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco. “And to all the employees and department heads in the city of Columbus, I’d like to thank them for their help and work and all they’ve done for me in the past 12 years. I leave here a little heartbroken I guess, heartfelt. I leave a part of me behind, but life goes on. It’s another chapter of my book that I’m turning the page on.”
Box, who did not run for re-election and will be replaced in July by Rusty Greene, echoed Gavin.
“I do appreciate all the support people have given me in the time I was here,” the three-term councilman said. “I look forward to serving the city, perhaps, in other ways. I won’t disappear. I’ll still be involved in the city and service, but I do thank you all for your kindness over the years.”
Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong also served at his last council meeting Tuesday night. Armstrong will retire at the end of the month.
Mayor Robert Smith will also step down in July, having lost re-election to incoming mayor Keith Gaskin, though election officials were still tallying absentee ballots and the results were not official when the council meeting began Tuesday night.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens said the departing city officials would be missed and invited city employees to a going-away celebration for them and other departing employees at the Trotter Convention Center downtown Tuesday night.
“You’re truly going to be missed, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” Mickens said. “I appreciate what you’ve done for the city.”
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