In addition to the Convention Center deal, the proposed sale of the Center Street recycling facility for $2 million was also on Council’s agenda for Wednesday.
Two years ago the city had planned to sell the center and relocate it to the First Ward. Some First Ward civic leaders objected, and the sale was never consummated.
It’s among $40 million in real estate sales the mayor and council counted on a year ago when they passed a $1.9 billion budget. Some $28.6 million of those sales will not be realized this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The city will draw down its reserve fund to cover the shortfall, Finance Director Kelly Dowe told the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Admiral Linen is buying the recycling center’s 43,000-square-foot parcel, but the center gets to stay rent-free for 18 months. A representative of the city’s real estate division said late Tuesday that he could not speak about the Solid Waste Management’s plans for the facility after that.
Solid Waste did note that it intends to continue expanding curbside recycling, though, which would make drop-off facilities such as the Heights Recycling Center less necessary.
See here and here for some background. I noted back in March that the deal appeared to be back in the works. The introduction and expansion of the single stream recycling program means that it’s now possible to close this facility instead of relocating it. At least, one presumes that by the time it would close, around the end of 2012, enough households have been added to the single stream program to allow for its closure. In any event, the item relating to this sale on Council’s agenda was tagged for a week, so expect this to happen this coming Wednesday.