Members of the Montgomery City Council will vote on Monday afternoon on whether to proceed with the purchase of the old Montgomery Advertiser buildings.
According to WAKA, the $5.5 million purchase agreement with Farpoint Investment Ventures, LLC is for the former Montgomery Advertiser buildings at 425 and 475 Molton St. The property would be used to expand convention center space along the downtown riverfront. The property is currently the subject of a lawsuit in federal court over an insurance claim for flooding.
The purchase was on the council’s agenda last week, but was tabled for a vote at 1 p.m. on Monday at the request of some members.
Montgomery City Councilman Charles Jinright said during last week’s meeting, “I’m getting rumors that RSA and David Bronner are involved in this. They’re ready to go. I don’t know. These are the kind of rumors that I’m picking up tonight. I don’t like to work off rumors. I don’t think it’s good business to do that.”
“We’ve spent almost $100,000 on a survey to figure out if this project would work, period,” Jinright said at the meeting. “That survey has not come back to my knowledge. What’s the status of that survey that’s being done? We’ve got almost $100,000 being spent on that, and we’re going and buying the property before we even have the results of that.”
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed called the purchase a “win-win.”
“Our full 100% confidence is to move this forward with the development that we’ve been talking about here for now a number of years,” Reed said. “This is a great opportunity for the city of Montgomery. It will benefit the region, even those who live outside of the city.”
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