ODESSA, Texas — Tuesday's Odessa City Council meeting saw the Odessa City Council agree to a new purchase price of $295,000 for the Old Fire Station #6.
The property and building will now go to Andrew and Megan Prado of Town and Country Drug, who, according to Odessa City Attorney Dan Jones, will be turning the property into a new drugstore.
The City of Odessa initially hired a realtor to search for potential buyers to make a bid.
“This has been going on probably since last fall," Jones said. "As far as the bids and everything, the council had already accepted [Town and] Country at $350,000 and then they found the roof trouble, so now we are back again.”
While $350,000 was accepted as a successful bid, the initial bid made was $500,000.
That $500,000 bid came before an inspection found problems inside the building.
“They looked at the remediation because there is asbestos in the building. So, they took $100,000 off," Jones said. "Then they went to $400,000 and then they realized that they were going to have to pay impact fees; they've got to pay impact fees.”
According to Jones, impact fees can't be avoided by anyone.
“For lack of a better word, they are basically the cost of doing business," Jones said. "The state of Texas started this several years ago and basically, you're talking about the impact of the roadway and the impact on the water, the sewer, all of those things.”
After the bid was whittled down to $350,000, more issues cropped up that brought all sides back to the negotiation table.
“Then they had the opportunity to actually go and inspect the building and they got up on the roof and realized that the roof needed $55,000 worth of repairs," Jones said. "So therefore, we ended up here tonight at $295,000.”
However, the negotiations went seemingly well, and, with the final approval of City Council, the Old Fire Station #6 is essentially sold.
“This is it. Since the council awarded that to them tonight at 295,000, they will start the closing process. We will do the first reading of the ordinance to convey the property two weeks from now, and then we will have the second reading of the ordinance four weeks from now," Jones said. "After that, they can close on the property and start the renovations; they can do whatever they like.”
According to state law, the City of Odessa must take the money from the purchase and put it back into Odessa Fire and Rescue.
