Jun 5, 2024 By Mike Jones 5 min read

The biggest garage sale of them all could be happening in Washington soon.

The Washington County commissioners are expected to make a formal offer to purchase the Crossroads Parking Garage on North Franklin Street in the city so county employees can park their cars there instead of at the nearby Courthouse Square garage.

The county received an appraised value on the property from Owen Appraisal Service LLC on April 25, and will use that figure in making its offer, according to the proposed motion. The commissioners are planning to vote at Thursday’s 10 a.m. meeting to send a letter to the city and Washington School District expressing interest in the property with an offer to purchase the garage. If accepted by city and school district officials, county solicitor Gary Sweat would then draft a formal purchasing agreement to finalize the sale.

The appraisal was not made public following the county’s agenda meeting Tuesday, but Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said it’s a little more than $4 million. He said they have been in negotiations with Washington Mayor Jojo Burgess and other city officials following multiple meetings on the topic, and he’s hopeful they can reach an agreement.

“The garage is losing money for the city of Washington. It’s a win-win for everyone. We need the space,” Sherman said. “We are just trying to be a good neighbor to the city and give them a fair market price.”

The county is looking for more space as it considers a plan to demolish the Courthouse Square office building and construct a new public safety complex in its place. However, plans can’t move forward until an alternate location is found for county and courthouse employees to park their cars during the day.

“We haven’t made a formal decision on what we’re doing,” Sherman said of the future plans for Courthouse Square. “One way or another, we have to move (vehicles) out of that garage. At this point, the garage is past the point of no return. We would fill (Crossroads parking garage) with county employees first and foremost, and then we would entertain leasing.”

More than half of the 780 spaces in the garage are currently under monthly leases, with some of the other parking spots being utilized by people who park there and pay the daily rate instead of using surface lots in the city.

The garage opened in May 2007 and cost an estimated $14.1 million to build, although state grants at the time paid for about half of it. While it is owned and operated by the City of Washington Parking Authority, money from the sale will be distributed to the city, Washington School District and county due to a tax-increment financing plan used to build the garage, with the municipality and school system receiving the bulk of the revenue.

The appraised value submitted in the offer could just be a starting point in negotiations if the city and school district feel the parking garage is worth much more.

City Administrator Donn Henderson estimates that Washington has spent about $800,000 from its coffers over the last 17 years to offset revenue shortages from the annual bond payments. He said city officials are “cautiously optimistic” about a proposed sale.

“I think the city realizes this is key to the county’s project,” Henderson said. “We don’t want to hold it up, but we also want the (city’s) taxpayers to get back what they have invested in the garage.”

While money from the sale would be helpful for the city, Henderson did not expect it to be a major windfall.

“This would be a short-term benefit – it would help with some current financial circumstances – but it’s not a long-term solution for the city’s finances,” Henderson said.

While final details of the proposal have not yet been made public, Washington School District Operations Director Rick Mancini was unsure whether the price offered by the county would be enough to sway the school board to agree to a sale. He said this is the second time the county has had dialogue with the city and school district about a potential sale, and it was rejected last time due to being undervalued.

“The price was not something the school was interested in,” Mancini said of the previous discussions. “So, now I guess they’re back at the table.”

Mancini said the garage is insured at $15 million for full replacement, and he noted that it has been meticulously maintained over the years by the Parking Authority. While Mancini said the plan was always to eventually sell the garage to help offset the loss of tax revenue from the TIF, the entities still owe $1 million to $1.5 million before it is paid off.

​​”You couldn’t build that garage for less than $15 million today,” Mancini said. “That’s going to be the sticking point. The price. It has been well-maintained, it’s been kept up to date.”

The garage was valued at $7.428 million during the most recent property reassessment completed in 2016.