Interested in having your very own fire station?
The Town of Sidney is putting it’s existing fire hall up for sale this month, in a bid to raise raise around $3.5 million to help offset borrowing costs associated with construction of its new community safety building. Included in the sale is an adjacent parking lot.
In October, the municipality announced it had revised it valuation of the combined properties — up from an initial estimate of $2 million more than a year ago — following a more current market evaluation.
On Wednesday, Sidney announced it was releasing a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) for the disposition of the fire hall and parking lot, approximately 42,500 square feet. It is expected that whoever buys the property would tear down the fire hall and building a mixed use commercial/residential building there. Such a project could be up to six stories in height.
In its bidder documents online, the Town states its objective is to have a short list of proponents before the end of February 2018. From there, they will start negotiations on the purchase. They state that the Town “will exercise its discretion and judgment as to what is in the best interests of the community” — be it in price, project feasibility and proponent track record, among other criteria.
The Town is also asking that any successful proponent provide 30 parking stalls for public use.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Wednesday, January 21, 2018 at 4 p.m.
The Town’s new safety building is currently under construction and recently saw an increase to its estimated final cost, from $10 million to $14 million.