Travis County Commssioners Court
April 29, 2003
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Item 24
24. Consider issues regarding utilization and disposition of the real property and building located at 1101 nueces and take appropriat regarding.
>> judge Biscoe, Commissioner, we own the property at 1101 nueces. Most of you are familiar with that. It's right in front of the bryzandean house on nueces, facing nueces, but right in front of the house on the side of the cjc in front of the plaza. We have worked with staff and some of the Commissioners, also, to kinds of lay out all of the options in terms of what you could do for that property. We have five options. We did not make a recommendation because we wanted to discuss with the court and get an idea what was it is that you wanted to do with the property. We also attached the fiscal notes in terms of the action, the option and the approximate cost of each of the options. And roger can discuss each and every one of the options and some of the pros and cons to each of them.
>> take a full 60 second and highlight each option for us. We do not have number 6 which is a do nothing or to wait or further dlaich that's always a good one, right?
>> outline them quickly for us. You want us to mull over these, let you know where we are headed at some point in the future?
>> that is the dowrt's pleasure -- if that is the court a's pleasure. We brought it before you, we can go over the options and bring it back at a later time.
>> okay.
>> we need to know what -- we need to know what option is the most feasible because the -- to the court because item [indiscernible] that item option of this item.
>> can I ask a quick maybe a procedural question that will help me focus my efforts here. I know in terms of when we've had another property get dispossessed of, pleasant valley which we can now discuss. It was in part prompted because there was a great deal of interest in people saying if you are going to get rid of it, we're interested. It was a good timing thing for not only our side, but others who were interested. Have -- have we gotten any indication that there are folks that are wanting to know what the answer to this question is and therefore it may be to our advantage to deal with this now. Or if they are not as the judge suggested the do nothing option certainly preserves our options the best to get to it whenever it's best for it to get to it.
>> all right.
>> I知 just curious.
>> the -- there has been to my knowledge and perhaps roger can add to what I have to say, but in terms of option number 4rbg the children's waiting room, there has been interest expressed on the possibility of using the house as a children's waiting room. Roger, were there any other inquiries.
>> thinking more in option number 2.
>> offsetting. There's some interest in buying the facility. And it's been there for about like last six months when we started that deal. Pat can tell this. She told me to be careful what I say about the properties. That's going to go into executive session. But pat please go ahead.
>> yes, there has been interest in this property from adjacent property owners. I think it's a very desirable location. The lot is small. But there's a possibility to -- there's a vacant piece of property adjacent to it that may or may not be on the market at some point. Someone could put them together, we could put them together possibly. Build something a little bit larger. But even so, it's certainly -- there's always a tremendous need for small law office type of locations immediately adjacent to the cjc and courthouse.
>> how many square feet is in this place.
>> 4300 square feet.
>> 4300 square feet and the appraisal is $6,000.
>> no. The appraisal is for --
>> we don't have an appraisal on the property. Commissioner. We -- any numbers that are on this are based on the tcad for Travis County properties does not show a value because we are tax exempt.
>> they would show a value if it were a commercial -- [multiple voices] it's really not reflective of what that value would really be.
>> what traditionally do is go next door, extrapolate, try to come up with a square footage price based auto location. Similar type facility. [multiple voices]
>> Commissioner, this is an appraisal fee, you know, we hire somebody to go ahead and appraise the property.
>> that's what --
>> exactly.
>> it's not the property at all.
>> I was going to say i'll buy it. [laughter] right now.
>> me, too.
>> [multiple voices]
>> my preference is not to.
>> the appraisal cost 6,000 bucks.
>> yes, sir, approximately. I think that I can negotiate that. We have a contract with a group of appraisers, I would go to one that we have a contract with, ask them what they would -- we have been paying in the range of five to six thousand, actually we have been paying 5500 or $6,000. For appraisals.
>> why don't we think over this between now and next week, have that back on. I do think an option ought to be zero and then what are the pros and cons of doing nothing.
>> okay.
>> I知 assuming we think the market is all right. But we think this is not a good market to up load this now. We know it's not in good shape because there's some remediation that neetdz to be done. That needs to be done. If we want to sell it one question would be whether it makes sense to remediate and then put it on the market. The other thing that I would like to see factored in. If we were to make this safe and were to go with the chip' waiting -- children's waiting area, what would it cost to do it right? What would be the benefits be? Let's compare that to cash that we can actually get out of it at the optimum method.
>> sure.
>> four or five weeks to shoot at it, that opposed to just the pros and cons of sitting on a while.
>> the market may not be good now but the location is fabulous.
>> I will signal that there are two options here that I知 just not going to consider. Related to demolishing that and constructing surface parking. I think that would create a horrible hole in our neighborhood that is to our west. And for me that's not an acceptable solution. And the other one is demolishing and getting into the construction of an office building, been there, done that and I知 -- I知 not going to disturb the regency apartments at least on a vote of mine again related to construction of a project. But the others sell it, children's waiting room or do nothing are things that I would look at.
>> is one week to put together those thoughts there.
>> yes, absolutely.
>> I second that first emotion. I understand the second one. [laughter]
>> yeah about those two options.
>> yeah. The children's waiting room issue has been outstanding forever. If we were to do it right at this location, what would the total cost to the county be, how does that compare with some of the other options.
>> absolutely.
>> in terms of benefit to us, not necessarily to a buyer.
>> can I ask that question one slightly different way. That is and is the children's waiting room ready and willing to do the necessary remediation at their expense not the quick and dirty way, but the way that we really think that it would take to be absolutely necessary. So I知 not assuming on the children's waiting room that the county would pick up one dime of that remediation. But I知 also not in favor of a cheap solution related to the children's waiting room even if they are willing to pay it. They need to be prepared to pay truly what it will take to make that a safe structure for children. If I知 even going to consider that option.
>> I would say that I would prefer the children's waiting room, that's -- that would be my top priority [multiple voices]
>> at their cost -- that may be one reason to do nothing. I see us fighting over that.
>> I would immediately once we make a decision, I would immediately go over to the regular against apartments and involve them in the --
>> option number 4 stated that, you know, the-- what the cost is going to be to do a remediation, to make the safe place, you know, I -- you know it said it would be paid by the other entity not the county. But that's what option number 4 stated. We would let you know about this renovation to make that -- to make that [indiscernible]
>> can we pull out the old proposal and look at it? I think there was like a sharing of costs if I recall from one of those committees. We will look at all of the options. The other thing is that our judges came and said it would be a great benefit to us if they had a place. And at that time we couldn't think of a substitutable location. I知 -- a suitable location. It really depends on how this compares against all of the others. The big question now though is do you need a week or two weeks.
>> two weeks [laughter]
>> because of this added --
>> sold.
>> added research I have got to go two weeks.
>> may 13th.
>> thanks.
>> also sometimes if we will certainly -- we can have our component day on -- done on may 13th. Whether or not we will have been able to gotten the discussion farther enough along with the interested parties on the children's waiting room, that -- that in the middle of a session sometimes those folks are hard to tie down.
>> they made a proposal some time ago.
>> I think they are quite anxious for us to have that phone call. As we ail know during remediation projects, there are always surprises. Even though that may be a good solid figure, they needs to be a very strong contingency figure added in, there are always, always surprises on remodeling.
>> see ya in two weeks.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 1:52 PM