Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, will consider giving the OK to proceed with offering the old City Hall for sale.
Trent Tetterton, representing the Washington Habor District Alliance, is scheduled to appear before the council to discuss the matter, according to the council’s agenda for the Monday meeting. The agenda provided no other details about the matter.
In August 2010, the council discussed selling old City Hall. It decided to use the upset-bid process as the method of sale. Old City Hall is sometimes referred to as the DeMille Building.
At that August meeting, then-City Manager James C. Smith told the council there were “a number of developments there” in regard to old City Hall, which was completed in 1884. Smith said a developer expressed interest in acquiring the property. The developer, later identified as Rehab Builders, expressed interest in placing two retail shops in the ground floor of the building and two apartments upstairs in the building, according to Smith.
In November 2010, interior-design and marketing students from East Carolina University, working in teams, were given an assignment to develop usable plans to give Washington’s old City Hall a virtual makeover. One group of teams developed a plan that calls for retail space on the building’s first floor and apartments on the second floor. The other group of teams developed a plan that incorporates offices and a Harbor District visitors center on the first and second floors, a computer-ready location and classroom space that could be used by local educational institutions to assist with off-site learning programs.
Keeping the historical integrity of old City Hall while going green in developing an adaptive-reuse plan for the structure was the theme of the plans.
In other business, the council is expected to enter into an installment-purchase agreement (not to exceed $800,000) with RBC Bank to fund improvements to the city-owned property leased by Impressions Marketing Group Inc.
The planned improvements are the result of a protracted lease negotiation between the city and Impressions.
In February, the council approved a lease with Impressions for the city-owned property that the company occupies (the former Hamilton Beach site on Springs Road). Impressions has been leasing that property from the city since 2006.
The lease is for five years, with an option for Impressions to renew for two additional years. There’s also a provision for Impressions to extend that extension for two years.
Impressions will pay a base rent at the rate of $392,736 annually. It also will pay additional rent at the rate of $176,731 annually under terms of Exhibit A (improvements to the leased premises), which is part of the lease document. The total annual rent comes to $569,467.
The agreement requires the city to obtain financing in the amount of $769,566 for building-improvement projects. If the city is unable to secure that financing, its obligations for improvements to the property are as follows:
•    Up to $457,430 for roof replacement/repair;
•    Up to $26,061 for an interior fire-protection system;
•    Up to $82,800 for an exterior fire-protection system;
•    Up to $100,000 for other repairs.
The City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. The agenda for the council’s meeting may be viewed by visiting the city’s website: www.ci.washington.nc.us.