The City of Centralia has sold the long vacant Hoffman Hart building at 122 East Broadway downtown for $60,000.
The sale for the minimum acceptable price was made by the city contingent on the new owners RE:Purpose Development renovating the three story 18,000 square foot building.
One of the General Partner’s of the Project is Shannon Cooney who is the owner of the Crooked Creek Winery along with his wife Mindy. He says most of those involved in the multi-million dollar redevelopment want to remain anonymous.
“We have plans of redeveloping all 3 floors of the Hart building over the next several years. The initial goal will to be getting the first floor open with a commercial retail space as soon as possible. Hopefully within the next 12-18 months.
Cooney says the timetable is fuzzy because the first project is an extensive cleanup and it is unclear how long that will take.
“Our passion is for bringing the community up through the passion of our development company as well as other small businesses that will hopefully move into these spaces downtown. And we hope to create positive, thriving business environment along the downtown.
The Hoffman Hart building was first constructed in 1923 at a cost of $90,000 and at one time housed Brown Business College and Hoffman Clothiers. As a history buff, Cooney says he looks forward to reviving the building that has been vacant for decades. Re:Purpose Development was the highest of two bidders for the building.
Earlier in the meeting, Cooney commended the city’s public works department for their work with him on the first Sunday concert held at the Winery on North Oak Street. He also thanked the downtown business community and the 200 in attendance for their support.
The city council Monday night also sold three other city properties as surplus. Dimitria Panaga purchased 508 and 510 East Kell for the $2,000 minimum, Angela and Kiyana Butler bought 1015 North Franklin for the minimum $1,000 bid. Vacant land along Raccoon Lake not suitable for development was purchased by Ryan and Kristen McGuire for $6,251. The council tabled action on the sale of 902 South Marion to C-town Twist for $3,800 because councilman Jeff Castellari is a principal and councilman Blake Griffin was absent so a super-majority was not present to approve the sale.
The council approved a new six year lease with the Canadian National Railroad for the land where the city water treatment plant is located. The lease will be $825 a year through the end of 2023 and will then increase to $950 a year.
