The council has the option to approve a $30 million down payment towards buying and redeveloping the current property, owned by Truist Bank at 200 W Vine St. The lease would include an annual payment of up to $3.5 million each year for 35 years.
If the proposal is approved, Lexington would enter a public-partnership agreement with the Lexington Opportunity Fund, principally run by real estate agencies Webb and Greer Companies
It would replace the current downtown office on Main St, which was converted from a hotel during the 1980s and only meant as a temporary home for city government. Officials say the current chambers are too small, and that the building is aging. The new building would also add more accessibility and safety features.
“The purpose of this exercise is pursuing a new government center, which does provide an office environment for our staff here on the downtown campus, but it also provides a community space, such as today's meeting, for our constituents to come in and engage city leaders,” Commissioner of General Services Chris Ford said during the meeting.
But some councilmembers had concerns the capital funds that would go towards the down payment could be better served for other projects for residents, like a permanent homeless shelter.
“I thoroughly support the new city hall project, it’s something that I think is a need in our community, but as these conversations have gone on throughout the year, there has been a shift at the federal level and things have gotten less and less certain and a lot of restrictions around funding for how we address homelessness have changed as well,” said District 4 councilmember Emma Curtis.
Other councilmembers said they wanted more information to be available to the public before moving forward.
“I want more time for community conversation before we go to first and second reading. Because even if we move it to the docket for first reading on Thursday, then you have Thanksgiving break, which people are going to be spending time with their families,” District 5 councilmember Liz Sheehan said. “And second reading would be December 2, which is very quickly after that.”
The council will vote on the proposal’s first reading during its 6 p.m. meeting. The proposal would move on to a second reading if approved.
