By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
“It’s not the role that city government should be playing,” believes a longtime Hays real estate broker.
When Doug Williams heard from an acquaintance the city of Hays was considering paying for an option to buy land at 27th Street and Commerce Parkway, he “told them they were crazy, that the city would never get into the real estate speculation business.”
“Turns out, I was wrong.”
Williams and Tami Norris of Advanced Real Estate spoke against the idea Thursday night prior to the Hays city commission’s unanimous vote in favor of the option. Several other local realtors were in the audience but did not speak.
The city has been offered an exclusive 18-month option of $50,000 to purchase 93 acres at the northeast corner of 27th Street and Commerce Parkway north of Interstate 70. The land purchase price is $800,000.
Noting a sizable amount of empty retail space in town and the city’s support of infill over new development, Williams told commissioners he was “baffled” why the city would consider such a concept.
“This land is for sale for anybody to purchase. Why would the city buying it make any difference?” asked Williams.
“We’ve heard over and over that land prices are high. And as soon as anybody is interested in it – look at the (former) Ambassador Hotel – the land price triples. These have been consistently quoted to us by several developers as the things that are stopping development,” answered Commissioner Chris Dinkel.
“Sure. We’d like someone else to just go buy this property from the current owner and develop it…The city can get this land and have it developable for a minor fraction of what everyone else is asking for land. If land prices are truly what is keeping the town from developing, then this will develop. If this does not develop in 18 months or nobody’s on the line for it in 18 months, then land prices aren’t the issue and we need to start looking at another direction and another way to stimulate development.”
“If land prices really are the issue, this is an excellent and affordable experiment in testing that logic for why we’re not growing,” Dinkel concluded.
Last month commissioners hired Retail Strategies of Birmingham, Alabama, to conduct a retail gap analysis and then recruit new businesses to Hays. “If the city were to have title to this piece of property, it could more easily facilitate the location of future retail in that area,” City Manager Toby Dougherty said recently.
The city would have the choice of extending nearby infrastructure and marketing the property or to work with a developer for the property.
“This is a matter of things falling in place at a certain time,” said Commissioner Sandy Jacobs. “I’ve been involved in retail all of my career and I understand development. This is a well-priced piece of property. There’s some housing area out there that could be developed. It’s another back door into the north Vine business corridor.
“I don’t want the city getting involved in this kind of thing any more than anybody else does. But I think this is an opportunity, not from a political standpoint but from doing what is right for the community of Hays, that we take this chance. And there is risk. We admit that. But it’s a small risk in terms of what the reward could be.”
Williams thinks “there’s a lot better chance to fill the 150,000 square feet of empty building space and some north Vine Street property” than the city’s possible land purchase.
“We built a street (Commerce Parkway) and created an industrial park. We created a non-profit entity that developed land for a scaffolding company, a call center, Glassman Corporation, the Army Reserve Center.
“The city has been in the real estate business for 50-some years,” Schwaller said. “So this isn’t new.”
The option money will be paid from the Commission Capital Reserve Fund, as would the land purchase.