Last month the city of Spring Hill decided to purchase for renovation the 350,000-square-foot Northfield Workforce Development building.
The city’s library and its police headquarters will eventually move to the facility, which the city will pay $8.18 million for. Renovations could cost up to an additional $5 million.
A new resolutions will be decided this month on how to fund it. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote in two weeks on a $15 million loan from the city of Clarksville, to cover the purchase, design and renovation. Options on the loan include a 5-year and 7-year payback. The city has a limited amount of time to act on the purchase.
The city was given 60 days from October 16 to complete its due diligence on the property and close the sale. In that time it also needs to perform an environmental analysis, take surveys and amend the agreements it already has in place.
The deadline could be tight. The loan needs 20 days after approval to be public before it can be executed. BOMA will vote on Nov. 20.
The city, in September, hired architects to design the library and the police renovations.
Alderman Amy Wurth, Ward 1, said that there is the possibility for even more savings. The city has been working on planning and funding a police training range, at a cost of $400,000. However, it currently is planned at a site about 30 miles from the police station at town hall. With space to grow and expand at Northfield, Wurth said, now the project can instead be built there.
That would free up the $400,000, which comes from Adequate Facilities Tax revenue.
The decision to buy Northfield instead of undergo new construction will save at least $3 million. The estimate for a new library and renovated police headquarters was $18 million.
“The amount this is saving us long term is an opportunity we have never seen,” she added. “I am excited about it. I think this is a good move and a good thing for the taxpayers, who we will be saving millions and millions of dollars.”
