Greenwood close to deal to sell historic Polk Building downtown
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — After sitting vacant for a number of years, Greenwood’s historic Polk Building is set to be purchased and restored by local development firm Faulkner and Associates.
This is good news for many people in the community who wanted to save the 100-year-old building.
The city made a move forward Tuesday on the sale of the old city building and it’s future renovation.
Tuesday afternoon the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission approved a letter of intent to sell the Polk Building, which used to house the city’s offices.
Part of the agreement with the buyer, Faulkner, is a significant investment in restoring the building back to its 1920’s glory.
“He’s going to move his business into the building and then be available to rent it out to other businesses,” Redevelopment Commission President Brent Tilson said.
Tilson believes the money the city has recently spent downtown helped make this deal possible.
The building has been for sale nearly two years.
“This is just a great example of how the city’s investment in downtown Greenwood is bringing new investment into the community,” Tilson said.
Faulkner and Associates plans to buy the building for $74,000.
They are then committing to invest $700,000 in updates and renovation in the next 18 months.
“This is a good partnership and it’s the right balance of investment from us and investment from our potential real estate partner,” Tilson said.
The city has wanted to make sure whoever bought the building would maintain its historic values.
Restore Old Town Greenwood board member Ezra Hill said Old Town residents should be happy with this proposed deal.
He first learned the details in the RDC meeting Tuesday when the deal officially went public.
“The shell of the building is going to be preserved, which is what we’re trying to do with a lot of the other historic buildings in downtown,” Hill said.
Also, Tilson said this sale will be financially beneficial to the city.
He said it’s expensive to maintain an old, empty building, costing the city approximately $30,000 each year year.
“This is a good way for us to stop spending money,” Tilson said, “Also, because this building is now going on the tax rolls, we’ll be generating revenue from the taxes.”
And as a bonus for residents, the south parking lot will still be available as public parking on nights and weekends.
Tuesday’s RDC vote was a critical step in the sale of the building.
A final purchase agreement is expected to be reached between the city and the buyer by May.