The Jacksonville City Council approved a resolution last night to purchase the property adjacent to the municipal building located at 321 North Sandy Street.
Once the home of a plumbing business, the building has most recently been used as a private office and storage space. Mayor Andy Ezard says the building, which is bordered by city-owned property, just made sense to acquire when it became available.
“We talked to the aldermen and had the opportunity to purchase that building. We felt that we were in the position now, we’ve been approached over the years to buy that building, but we felt we were in the position to do that now. We always have storage needs, we’re always looking for space for things.
And it will not be just for the plaza personnel’s spot, but it will be probably a number of different city departments to use. And I think it kind of ties up what we’ve tried to do. We’ve tried to buy the property to the north, the old car wash and we’re utilizing that area, and this one just made sense at the time.”
Ezard says the acquisition will also give the city more freedom down the road should they need to expand beyond the current municipal building. “That has definitely played a factor in it as far as tying up the property around the Municipal Building for further expansion on whatever that may need to be in the future. So we felt that it was appropriate to do at this time and we went for it.”
The current municipal building was constructed in the 1960s and houses not only the executive offices but also the Jacksonville Police and Fire Departments’ main operations. The City of Jacksonville is purchasing the adjacent Sandy Street building at a cost of $120,000.00