Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979 CS Council considering Consol Building PurchaseCS Council considering Consol building purchase By JANE MILLS SMITH Staff Writer College Station City Council members said Wednesday they'd like to talk with A &M Consolidated representatives about purchasing the old Middle School building on Jersey Street to be renovated for a community center. The brick structure which sits atop a small hill beginning at Jersey and Holik, has been used as a high school and a middle school. Presently, it is used for special services for the school district. Councilmen said the building could be air conditioned and "put in first class shape" for meeting rooms for various clubs and organizations. Councilman Tony Jones, chair- man of a council committee on the proposed center, said the city must first decide whether to renovate an existing structre or build a new one. Councilman Gary Halter proposed that a council committee meet with a school board committee on a purchase or trade of school property. Some land owned by the city across from the new high school might be traded for the brick building. Jones said his committee feels a 1976 report on needs and concepts for a community center is somewhat out -of -date because the Brazos Center has since been completed and needs may have changed. However, Jones said, his com- mittee does feel there is a need and a demand for a center. The council promised more than 30 representatives of various organizations at the Wednesday workshop meeting that it w1ould move along swiftly with decisions on a proposed center. Some of the citizens had been involved in the 1976 study and complained that the council's slowness in acting had only allowed building costs to escalate. "It is desperately needed for all the people here," said Mrs. Raymond Rogers. "There are the senior citizens, the Campus Study Club, the scouts and many more." "An indoor facility would benefit people of all ages," said Mrs. Elizabeth Naugle. "It would especially benefit the age group that is heavily represented here today — the senior citizens. They've put their money into our schools, into our parks and paid their taxes to support the youth of our city." Halter said if school officials agree, the special services building would be owned and used ex- clusively by the city as a community center. He said the city also might enter into a joint usage agreement on the round auditorium across Holik Street. "We could put money into fixing it up. The school probably would get usage during the day and then others could schedule it at night," he said. If the city decides not to purchase the school building, the city council has purchased a tract of land on Anderson Street that might be a site for a new center. No cost estimates have been made recently on con- struction of a new structure. Halter said the city will have to decide if the hotel -motel tax receipts are the proper way to finance a new building.