The town of Salina is exploring the possibility of moving its operations to the former CDM Smith building.
The town board held a work session Monday, June 8, to hear from a representative of Pyramid Brokerage Companies, which manages the property located in the Salina Industrial Power Park (the former General Motors facility) off Military Circle. The town would be responsible for any construction to adapt the building to its needs as well as its operational costs, but otherwise, the firm has offered the town use of the 38,900-square-foot building as a town hall rent-free for ten years.
“The site is owned by the Racer Trust, which was created by the government when General Motors went into bankruptcy,” said Paul Mackey of Pyramid Companies, the property manager for the CDM building. He noted that there are 82 similar facilities across the country. “The underlying premise [laid out in the trust for the sale of those sites] is to [do] what’s best on behalf of the community.”
Salina’s existing town hall on School Road has been in need of repair for some time. Town officials created a fund late last year to start socking away money, but the fund has less than $100,000 in it. As of 2011, the full cost of completing all necessary renovations to the building was estimated at $1.68 million. That year taxpayers in the town narrowly defeated a referendum that would have allowed the town to purchase the former Burdick Chevrolet property on Old Liverpool Road and consolidate the town hall and highway facilities at the location. Voters rejected the measure by a vote of 2,698 to 2,532. The property was later converted into a fitness center.
Pyramid also stands to benefit from the deal; if Salina renovates the property, it will enhance the “curb appeal” of the site and potentially draw in new tenants to the remaining vacant spaces in the industrial park.
Supervisor Mark Nicotra said the town board is in the very beginning stages of exploring the proposal. Monday’s meeting was the first that board members had even heard of the idea. No solid numbers were available yet in terms of potential costs. The next step was a site visit for the board, which had not yet been scheduled.
Mackey said at this point he was only able to offer the town a 10-year lease.
“That’s what I’ve been authorized to offer right now,” he said. “Long term, it may be 30 years or more, but I can’t say that for sure.”
Mackey said he hopes the details will be ironed out by the end of the summer.
